Image: Hi Neighbour Sardis Community Initiative Facebook / The Chilliwack community is invited to come celebrate Norouz, the Iranian New Year, on Sunday, March 19 at Pioneer Park in Yarrow, 4390 Kehler Street, from noon to 4 p.m. There will be food, drinks, activities, and opportunities to connect with local non-profits and more.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Iranian New Year in Yarrow

Iranian New Year celebration Sunday at Pioneer Park in Yarrow

Mar 18, 2023 | 2:16 PM

CHILLIWACK — With no rain in the immediate forecast for Sunday, the Chilliwack community is invited to celebrate Norouz, the Iranian New Year, on Sunday, March 19 from noon to 4 p.m. at Pioneer Park in Yarrow, 4390 Kehler Street.

Sponsored generously by the United Way of B.C. and the Chilliwack-based, non-profit Love Without Borders (http://lovewithoutborders.ca), the Chilliwack community is invited to partake in food, drinks, activities, and an opportunity to connect with local non-profits and more.

According to a post from the United Way’s Hi Neighbour Sardis Community Initiative Facebook page, Nouroz is a festival based on the Iranian solar Hijri calendar, on the spring equinox which means “new day of the year” in Persian, and has been celebrated by the people of Iran and Mesopotamia since antiquity.

Although continuously celebrated in Iran for at least 3,000 years, Norouz is observed and commemorated by several hundred million diverse people groups from northwest China, India, central Asian republics, Iran, the Caucuses, Turkey and Eastern Europe, Iraq, and westward to Egypt.

A symbolic illustration of Norouz is setting up a decorative table called Haft-Sin, in every home. Haft-Sin carries an intriguing history, having evolved from Haft-Shin of the Kayanids dynasty era to Haft-Chin of the Achaemenids dynasty circa, and to its current Haft-Sin since the writing of Shahnameh, the epic poem book of the Persian kings by Ferdwosi, of nearly 1,000 years ago