Source: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
http://www.wrmea.com/archives/May-June_2009/0905064b.html
Happy New Year, or Eid-e Shoma Ham Mobarak! Norooz, Persian for “new day,” falls on the vernal equinox and marks the first day of spring as well as the Iranian calendar’s new year. The holiday itself occurs at a different date each year depending on when the sun crosses the celestial equator, leaving the length of day equal to that of night. This year it took place on March 20 at 7:44 a.m. in the Western Hemisphere.
Norooz has Zoroastrian (pre-Islamic) roots inside Iran, where it is a national holiday, dating as far back as 3,000 BCE, but it is also celebrated with local variations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Albania, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan. Norooz celebrations span 13 days, during which gifts are exchanged between friends and family, and children receive new, unfolded bills of money.
The Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery held daylong festivities on March 7, including tours of Iranian art, workshops for children, film viewing, story telling, and musical performances. A Norooz celebration is traditionally incomplete without fire jumping—chahar-shamba suri—to cleanse oneself of last year’s troubles and celebrate the victory of light over dark.The Smithsonian set up an artificial fire in which participants could recreate this custom.