Lauderdale House had some exotic and colourful items on display and for sale last weekend, alongside some delicious food, as Iranian, Afghan, and Central Asian Islington residents came together to celebrate Nowruz, the start of the Persian New Year. It was as if one had been transported to a bazaar in the Central Asian region.
“Events like this festival allow people to experience our culture first-hand, whether through visual art, music, food, or storytelling,” says Mehrdad Aref-Adib, the organizer of the event. “The goal is to create an inclusive space where people of all backgrounds can engage with and appreciate the beauty of Nowruz traditions.”
Nowruz has been celebrated for over 3,000 years, predating the advent of Islam in Iran, and now comes to Islington. It celebrates the start of the Persian new year, which has just moved to the year 1403, meaning the current year for Persians is in the 15th century.
Nowruz is celebrated among all Iranian ethnic groups and many neighbouring countries in the region.
This is the second year that the festival has taken place in Lauderdale House.
Asma, who is from Iran, had a ceramics stall, and explained the importance of these items for the festival of Nowruz. “We put seven symbols in dishes. As part of the festival, the items all must start with the Persian alphabet equivalent of the letter ‘s’.”
Soophia Foroughi, a British-Iranian actress known for her role in The Prince of Egypt stage show, had a stall selling traditional Iranian jewellery: “I handcraft every piece of jewellery. They are inspired by Persian architecture. I am half Iranian and it’s a good way to connect to my heritage. I was here last year and it’s really nice to be back.”
Tamineh Palizdar, a calligraphy artist, was there with her boyfriend, Jason McKenna. She describes her artwork as “Persian calligraphy with a modern twist. There is more colour, whereas traditionally it was only black. This focuses primarily on the colours and shapes”.
Jason explains the background behind the Persian expressions used in the calligraphy: “You don’t say you miss somebody in Persian, you say your heart has grown tight. Each poem expresses love.”
Some of the art on display expressed political themes. Zahra Karami uses her artwork to bring attention to the situation of women in Iran, specifically the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement that shook Iran in the 2022 protests over Mahsa Amini’s death by the religious police for not wearing her hijab. “These miniatures show women dancing, but in Iran they don’t have that freedom. I use miniatures to show about the women’s situation, and the struggle for freedom.”
The Central Asian food stalls showed a different side to Nowruz. Samanek (or samanu in the Persian language), is a delicious, rich type of bread eaten at Nowruz.
“We cook it all night,” says Hatyja, one of the vendors, “including to cool down. You have to stir it all night.”
Hatyja, who is from Turkmenistan, says Nowruz was introduced into Turkmen culture from Persia. “In Turkmenistan, the children get gifts, they wear traditional outfits and do folk dances and folk songs.”
The bazaar is part of a series of events taking place this month to celebrate Nowruz, including talks and workshops, which can be found here.
“Nowruzetoon Pirooz!”
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Newspaper journalism student at City, University of London.