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October 2, 2009

Norooz Recognized by UN Calendar

Washington DC – The petition to include Norooz on the UN calendar has finally succeeded and is now officially recognized by the United Nations. The petition was spearheaded by Mrs. Shahri Estakhri, a former NIAC board member and co-founder or the Persian Cultural Center, and collected over 300,000 signatures.

The petition was sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and passed with the support of eight nations including Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Kyrgyzstan.

“There are close to 300 million people all over the world that celebrate the first day of spring and recognize it as the beginning of the new year – called Norooz,” the petition said. They also mentioned that nearly all of these people live in UN member nations. Member nations that celebrate Norooz as a national holiday are Iran, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and other greater Asian countries, not to mention the thousands of Iranian Americans that have brought the tradition with them to the United States.

 

 

 

 

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