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In Pictures

Gallery|Arts and Culture

Nowruz celebrations mark beginning of spring

New Year celebrated in colourful ways in countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Azerbaijan.

Nowruz Celebrations
Syrian and Iraqi Kurds celebrate Newroz at a makeshift camp for refugees and migrants near the village of Idomeni, Greece. [Vadim Ghirda/AP]
Published On 21 Mar 201621 Mar 2016
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Nowruz, the Persian word for “new year”, is an ancient festival, celebrated on the first day of spring in countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Azerbaijan.

In Kurdish communities, the event, which marks the spring equinox, is called Newroz.

The holiday has been celebrated in various forms since 555 BC.

This year hundreds of Syrian and Iraqi Kurds stranded at the Greek border camp of Idomeni celebrated  the new year in refugee camps.

A few hundred refugees gathered around a large bonfire singing and chanting: “Long live Kurdistan” and “Blessed Newroz”.

Nowruz Celebrations
Iraqi Kurds celebrate Newroz Day, a festival marking spring and the new year. [Ari Jalal/Reuters]
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Nowruz Celebrations
Afghans take pictures of celebrations in Kabul. [Ahmad Masood/Reuters]
Nowruz Celebrations
Afghanistan uses the Persian calendar which runs from the vernal equinox and takes as its start date the time when the Prophet Muhammad moved from Mecca to Medina in 621 AD. [Ahmad Masood/Reuters]
Nowruz Celebrations
Iraqi Kurdish people carry fire torches up a mountain where a giant flag of Iraq''s autonomous Kurdistan region is laid. [Ari Jalal/Reuters]
Nowruz Celebrations
Nowruz has been celebrated for hundreds of years. [Rahmat Gul/Reuters]
Nowruz Celebrations
A Kurdish girl celebrates Newroz Day in Akra, Iraq. [Ari Jalal/Reuters]
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Nowruz Celebrations
Khane-takani, or shaking the house, is an Iranian tradition of spring cleaning and part of the Nowruz festival. [Mohammad Ali Najib/Al Jazeera]
Nowruz Celebrations
People buy flowers and other decorative items from Tajrish Bazar, Tehran. [Mohammad Ali Najib/Al Jazeera]


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