Persian Students Association will celebrate the coming of spring with a celebration of Nowruz on Saturday.
Nowruz will bring a “new day” to students as they celebrate the Persian New Year.
The Ohio University Iranian Students Society invites students and faculty to welcome the first day of spring with an event in Baker Ballroom on Saturday at 6 p.m.
The celebration will act as a way to share the culture behind Nowruz, which translates to “new day” in Persian.
“We wanted to celebrate the spring that came to Athens … because this is the first day of rebirthing, the first day of being green again,” Hamed Bateni, the president of Iranian Students Society, said.
The event will follow tradition as much as possible, but Bateni said the celebration in Iran is about being with family.
“It can be early in the morning, late in the night, midnight — any time,” Bateni, a Ph.D. student studying chemical engineering, said. “This is the tradition that everyone in the family will wake up, dress up and sit around the table that we make … and wait for the year to renew.”
The tradition of the haft-seen table will be included at the event. The ceremonial table holds an arrangement of seven items that start with the letter seen in the Persian alphabet. Bateni said each object is a sign of something good, such as garlic symbolizing health and apples symbolizing beauty.
Family gather around the table at the start of each new year.
Traditionally, rice and fish is served on the night of Nowruz, but the event will have more variety in the traditional Persian dishes offered. Chicken, beef, fish, grilled veggies, appetizers and dessert will be served.
Taghi Sahraeian, the vice president of the association, remembers his own childhood visits to his grandfather and uncle’s home to celebrate Nowruz.
Being far from family, he said the celebration in Athens was a positive experience.
While Persian students have often celebrated Nowruz, under Sahraeian’s presidency, the new year celebration was opened up to the community. The first public event about two years ago brought 240 students to celebrate.
Now, with more than 80 current members of Iranian Students Society, Sahraeian, a Ph.D. student studying biochemistry, said Nowruz will offer a way to celebrate with friends. He said Persian students would like to share the celebration with domestic students.
“We believe if you share your happiness with others, it will be increased,” Sahraeian said.
For him, the main point is diversity.
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“We would like to show this diversity,” Sahraeian said. “To the world, we would like to show we can get along with each other.”
Diversity is one the reasons why students from Iran come to Athens, he said. Diversity is an American ideal that is respected, and Sahraeian said the event will work to uphold it.
To do that, lectures teaching about different tribes of people in Iran will be presented.
Cultural performances featuring Persian classical music, pop music and dance will feature members of the Iranian Students Society.
“One of the major goals is sharing the culture … with the OU community,” Bateni said.
Sahraeian said if Americans can come to the event, they will know more about Iranians and then can develop a relationship.
“(Americans) would come to know how peaceful, educated, diverse Iranians are,” Sahraeian said.
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