What Nowruz Burns: The Questions a Spring Festival Poses to Iran's Regime

Beyond the Flames, a New Year Arrives

Today, March 21. In the alleys of Tehran, in the squares of Kabul, in the Kurdish villages of Istanbul, and on the Iranian diaspora streets of Los Angeles, people leap over fire. The flames of "Chaharshanbe Suri" have barely died down when Nowruz — the Persian New Year — dawns. This spring festival, which has continued for over 3,000 years, has arrived once again without fail. But how does the Islamic Republic of Iran view this celebration?

Zoroastrian Flames, the Islamic Republic's Dilemma

Nowruz's roots trace back to the pre-Islamic era and the Zoroastrian worldview. This tradition of marking the moment when darkness and light achieve balance at the spring equinox as the start of the new year became central to Persian civilization through the Achaemenid and Sassanid dynasties.

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the Khomeini regime openly suppressed Nowruz, calling it "a pagan custom from before Islam." Celebration programs disappeared from state broadcasting, and fire-jumping events faced repeated bans under the pretext of being dangerous. But the momentum of thousands of years could not be broken. Iranians, while keeping one eye on the regime, set their Haft-sin tables in every home and lit fires in the streets.

Eventually, the regime compromised. Today, Iran's government officially recognizes Nowruz as a national holiday but opts to reinterpret it as "an Iranian national tradition" rather than acknowledging its Zoroastrian origins. It is a form of cultural negotiation.

Why Nowruz Burns Hotter in 2026

This year's Nowruz is set against a particularly complex backdrop. The social fractures since the 2022 "Mahsa Amini" protests have not healed, and skyrocketing prices due to economic sanctions weigh heavily on ordinary people's New Year preparations. Reports from the ground indicate a growing number of households that find even the apples (sib) and garlic (sir) for the Haft-sin table a financial burden.

Yet Tehran's citizens leap over the fire and shout: "Zardi-ye man az to, Sorkhi-ye to az man" (My yellow pallor to you, your red glow to me) — a chant of transferring illness to the fire and receiving vitality in return. Whether it is resistance against the regime or a will to live — it is probably both.

Nowruz belongs not only to Iran. Hundreds of millions celebrate the same new year on the same day across Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, the Kurds of northern Iraq, and eastern Turkey. UNESCO inscribed Nowruz on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. Spring knows no borders.

Films and Dramas About the Middle East

The work that most vividly captures Iran's cultural tension is undoubtedly Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical animation "Persepolis" (2007). Iran seen through the eyes of a Tehran girl before and after the revolution delicately shows how everyday culture like Nowruz is deeply intertwined with politics. While some scenes are dramatically exaggerated, the sentiments of Iranian middle-class families are remarkably authentic.

"Under the Shadow" (2016) is a horror film set in a Tehran apartment during the Iran-Iraq War. It embodied the terror of war and oppression through a supernatural entity — and the very fact that it was filmed in Jordan to avoid Iranian censorship speaks to the reality of Iran's creative environment.

Director Jafar Panahi's "Taxi" (2015) is a record of Tehran daily life secretly filmed by a banned director. Like the Nowruz celebration, things that are suppressed eventually find their way through the cracks — this film quietly proves that.

The Fire Does Not Go Out

The Nowruz flame has survived for 3,000 years. Neither the rise and fall of empires, religious revolution, nor economic sanctions have fully extinguished it. Perhaps that is why this festival remains political to this day. On this first day of the new year, in the toes of Iranians leaping over fire lies a very ancient and very human will — to shed the past and begin again.

Nowruz Mubarak. Spring has arrived.