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Nowruz

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Nowruz is the Persian, or Iranian, spring celebration of the New Year. It’s the most important festival of the year in Iran, and it’s a public holiday there and in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania and other countries in South and Central Asia. It begins at the exact day, hour and minute of the spring equinox, when night and day are of equal length. This is usually on 21 March. It’s the day when winter changes into spring, and it feels like a new beginning. People prepare for Nowruz by cleaning the whole house, and everyone in the family helps out. Carpets, windows and curtains are cleaned. Anything broken is repaired or replaced. Silverware is polished. The house is decorated with flowers. By doing this spring cleaning, people wash away the bad things from the previous year and prepare for better things to come in the New Year. They also put on brand new clothes to symbolize a fresh start. After thousands of years in the making, Nowruz remains too beloved, universal, and deeply embedded in Persian culture to ignore.

Nowruz

Persians celebrate around a special table in their house. It’s called the haft-seen, which means “seven Ss”. On it, there are seven special objects, all of which begin with letter “s” sound in the Farsi language and which symbolize something. There are actually more than seven, but here are some of the most common.

Sabzeh: Some kind of sprout or grass that will continue to grow in the weeks leading up to the holiday, for rebirth and renewal

Senjed: Dried fruit, ideally a sweet fruit from a lotus tree, for love

Sib: Apples, for beauty and health

Seer: Garlic, for medicine and taking care of oneself

Samanu: A sweet pudding, for wealth and fertility

Serkeh: Vinegar, for the patience and wisdom that comes with aging

Sumac: A Persian spice made from crushed sour red berries, for the sunrise of a new day.

While these seven S items are the foundation of a haft-seen, the tradition has evolved to the point where there are several other things you can include. For example, It can be included a mirror symbolizing reflection, colored eggs for fertility, coins for prosperity, and, if we were feeling ambitious, a live goldfish for new life.

Nowruz

Persian leopard

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The Persian leopard is the last remaining Panthera species in Iran after the extinction of the Asiatic lion Panthera leo persica and the Caspian tiger Panthera tigris virgata. The leopard has therefore a unique importance for the ecological health of wide areas of natural ecosystems in the country and for the cultural heritage of Iran. The Persian leopard has been widely distributed in West, South and Central Asia since the times of the Pleistocene, but became extinct in some areas. Iran’s mountainous north is home to the greatest concentration of Persian leopards left on earth. Larger than their African cousins, Persian leopards once roamed far into the Caucasus Mountains in central Asia, including parts of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Now, only scattered populations of these big cats remain in those countries, often in isolated patches far removed from others of their kind. Iran is leopards’ best chance for survival. Expanding villages, encroaching livestock and busy highways destroy habitat and create hazards for such a wide-ranging predator. In recent years, a new indirect threat has emerged as well: economic sanctions.

Persian Leopard

 Although Iran has an impressive number of parks and protected areas, herders sometimes graze their livestock in prohibited zones. When leopards occasionally kill vulnerable cows or sheep, the herders poison the carcasses to get rid of the offending predator. Cubs are born with their eyes closed, eventually opening after 4-5 days. Their fur is thicker than that of adult Persian leopards. Weaning occurs at 3 months, by which time they start following their mothers on hunting trips. They make it out of their juvenile year only around 50% of the time, as out of a litter of four, only two reach adulthood. Being obligate carnivores, they eat ungulates like roe deer, goitered gazelle, West Caucasian tur, mouflon, wild boar, and onager. However, they can adapt to changes in their diet, depending on food availability. They spend a solitary life, except during the mating season and when a female is raising her cubs. Individuals have well-pronounced territories marked by ground scraping, tree scratching, and urine spraying. These leopards roar and growl threateningly, a trait that they share with tigers, lions and jaguars. It is because a part of their voice box, is actually replaced with a ligament, enabling them to stretch it to have a bigger sound passage, resulting in a wider pitch range.

Persian Leopard

Persian Gazelle

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There are three species of gazelle in Iran, including Persian Gazelle, Jabir Gazelle and Mountain Gazelle. Persian Gazelle is the most abundant gazelle species in Iran; unfortunately, in 2008, it was added to the list of vulnerable and endangered animal species of IUCN. The species lives in 15 protected areas in Iran, among which Mouteh Wildlife Refuge is one of the largest populations of Persian Gazelle depending on natural ecosystems. Examining the cytochrome b region in a number of conserved areas of the species showed that all of them belong to a pure population of Persian Gazelle; however, the gazelles living in different habitats are significantly different from each other. Biometric studies on the skull indicated that the gazelles living in the Eastern and Western Zagros Mountains of Iran are distinct from each other.

Persian Gazelle

Persian gazelle mostly feeds on plants with high protein content. Indian or Jabir gazelle is another species of gazelle living in Iran, which is considered as protected and endangered species in the country. Unfortunately, their species status has been so far controversial; thus, it has been not put on the IUCN list. However, there are strong morphological and molecular evidence suggesting that the animal belongs to the Jabir Gazelle species. This species is very similar to the Persian gazelle, but smaller in body size. It should be noted that three subspecies of Jabir gazelle have been identified in Iran. The Mountain gazelle is another species of Iran’s gazelles, which shows more specification in the body color than other species. The only habitat of this species is in the Faroor Island in the Persian Gulf. In general, the three valuable species of Iran’s gazelles are currently in need of need serious protection and support in order to prevent the extinction of such valuable biological resources and preserve them for future generations.

Persian Gazelle

Persian Gazelle is larger than other species in Iran regarding body size, and the antlers are only seen in males. At present, the species lives sporadically in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, northern Tibet, southeastern Turkey, the Caucasus, Turkmenistan and some plains of Iran. It should be noted that the evidence and the taxidermied sample remained from Dasht-e Moghan gazelles indicate that the gazelles in the plain have been of the geographical races of this species.

Persian Cat

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Persian World states that although the history of where this cat originated may be sketchy, breeding programs for Persians began in Italy and France as far back as the 16th Century. The breeding program advanced further and the development of the Persian as known today began in Great Britain. Persians were entered in the first cat shows in Great Britain in the 1800s, and they were a popular pet at the time. By the early 1900s, Americans began to import Persians into the United States. The Persian is usually a medium sized cat, although she is massive and heavily boned. With her masses of fur, she can appear larger than she really is. While there is no particular weight range the Persian should fall in, these cats should be full bodied and balanced. The Persian is an extreme-looking breed. The body is short, but thick with thick legs and a short, thick neck. The tail is short and the ears are small. The head is round with large, round eyes. When viewed in profile her face is flat and the nose changes direction so that what is seen is mostly the colored flesh on her nose.

Persian Cat

The coat on a Persian is thick, full and long. It is fine, but should be lustrous and glossy. The ideal Persian coat has a fine texture and is long, thick and glossy. Variety is truly the spice of life when it comes to coat colors. This breed is divided into no less than seven separate coat color groups, with plenty of choices in each. You can find Persian cats in just about every solid color including black, blue, chocolate, red, lilac, cream and white. Most solid colors are accompanied by copper eyes, except for white Persians that either have copper, blue, or odd-eyes.

 A Persian’s head is easily its most distinctive feature. It’s larger and generally rounder than that of the average cat, with large, round, wide-set eyes and a sweet expression. The ears are fairly small with rounded tips, and they should be set wide apart and tilted slightly forward. The cheeks are also quite round, and the short nose appears to be aligned with the eyes. Some Persian cats have the traditional “doll face” whereas others have a flatter face that is sometimes called “Peke face” because it’s like a Pekingese dog. The flat face Persians tend to be more popular at cat shows but also tend to have more health problems than doll face Persians.

Persian Cat

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