Nowruz: Iran celebrates the new year and the arrival of spring

Thousands of pilgrims gathered in the Iranian city of Mashaad in the northeast of the country to celebrate the Persian New Year. Imam Reza’s mausoleum, the largest in the world, has welcomed many tourists and Iranians after two years of limited celebrations with Covid. For this occasion, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi both delivered televised speeches.

This festival, called Nowruz, takes place between March 19 and 22 and marks the beginning of the new year and the arrival of spring. Nowruz is a national holiday in Iran, Afghanistan and the Kurdish regions of Iraq, Turkey and Syria as well as across Central Asia.