for the next two weeks more than 300 million people are celebrating no ruse also known as the Persian New Year no ruse which means new day in Persian marks the beginning of Spring in 13 days of rituals joining me now to tell us more about the holiday is Sherine husten po board member for Iranian cultural Foundation Houston good morning thank you so much for your time this morning we appreciate it good morning thank you for having me for those of us not familiar with no Rus what is it well it's a
celebration of life and renewal and it happens at the exact moment that spring begins at the vernal equinox so this year it was um past 10 p.m. here in Houston last night and today marks the very first day of spring so talk to us how how how people celebrate it uh the Traditions that come with it and how long do do these these rituals last throughout the celebration so nose actually begins with its first celebration of char shisui which is the Tuesday night before New Year and that's when we ju
mp over fire to welcome in the new year and then the day of norus which is um at the exact moment of the vernal equinox we get together around our half scene which I have displayed behind me here and they're full of symbolic items that represent the renewal of life that spring brings and then um children receive gifts of money and after that it's it's two weeks of celebrations we visit the elders um and we take sweets and we do lots of eating and then on the 13th day we all have a picnic and we
celebrate the beginning of Spring talk to us about the foods that you that you eat throughout the celebrations yeah so the most traditional food for norus would be sabzi pahi which is herbed rice and fish and it's usually a white meat fish um depending on where you are you might pick something different and that is also followed with lots and lots of sweets there's lots of sweets in norus and everywhere you go to visit um the your elders they will offer you more sweets talk to us Sherine about t
he display behind you are do you customize these displays to to to you and your family what means the most talk to us about how people can and uh put together these these different um displays yeah so this is called the half scene half means seven and scen is the letter s in farsy and so this is just a symbolic uh spread that every family would have in their home to welcome in the new year for norus um there are seven things on here that begin with S and they all symbolize the renewal of life in
norus so we have hin flowers we have fresh um herbs like this is wheat grass growing behind me we have apples we have garlic um there's uh goldfish which I put and um eggs that symbolize fertility we have samanu which is um a wheat Pudding we have sumach and we have um SED which is a Persian Olive and all of these items represent spring and the renewal of Life a that's beautiful okay talk to us about the event uh happening this weekend for folks interested uh what is it and where is it yes so t
his weekend um on Sunday we the Iranian uh cultural Foundation is hosting its annual nors event and this is the 15th year that we are hosting it it will be at the Bayou City Event Center and it's going to start at 300 p.m. it goes all the way until 9900 p.m. it's a huge Festival we have thousands that attend and it is all about no r and it's not just for Persians um norus as you know is celebrated by all peoples that Trace their lineage back to the Persian Empire so that includes lots of people
Afghans tajiks usbekistan on and on I can go on and on wow um but this event is going to be really fun there'll be events for um for kids there'll be you know crafts and dancing and lots of music and um it'll be a lot of fun and also we have have a proclamation that was issued by the mayor that celebrates noru day and um the Iranian cultural Foundation does do this every year and so we're very proud of our achievements and we really hope that you come and join us you can get your tickets um toda
y they're only $30 at ICF houston.com a shamine husten PO thank you so much for your time this morning we appreciate it it was very enlightening to learn more about no ruse thank you for having me happy norus thank you
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