The Wende Museum is pleased to partner with the Aga Khan Museum and The Ismaili Council for the Western United States in organizing a fun-filled day of activities for the entire family at this celebration.

The festival of Nowruz coincides with the vernal equinox, on the 20th of March — when the sun crosses the equator and equalizes day and night. In the Persian calendar, this event marks the New Year, and Nowruz, the 21st of March, is the ‘new day’ that marks the beginning of Spring. It is a day to offer gratitude for the bounties of life and to express renewed hope and optimism for the future.

Nowruz is celebrated by over three hundred million people in the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central and South Asia, and by Iranians worldwide. It signals the transition from a dull and grey winter to a vibrant and colorful spring, a promise of new life and abundance. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the delicate intertwining of nature and humanity, one that sustains us and needs to be preserved.

Activities include live musical and dance performances, calligraphy workshop, tile painting, henna painting, planting seeds, button making, creating greeting cards, poetry recitations, children’s egg painting, and Persian tea and refreshments.