How Islam Deals with the Ancient Celebration of Nowruz

Nowruz, the most famous national Persian holyday, ages thousand years. Peoples of the plateau of Iran have always been celebrating the beginning of spring holding a special ceremony full of joy and happiness. The philosophy of the ceremony makes it special amongst traditional Persian holidays and has made it last for such a long time. The birth and flowering can be seen everywhere in the begging of the New Year. Nowruz in ancient times was a celebration for the beginning of spring and Zarathustra added a religious aspect to the event and was crystallized with the myth of Jamshid. Little is known about Nowruz in Achaemenid and Parthian dynasties but due to some documents of historians of the third to fifth AH we know a little bit about the holyday in Sassanid period. There are also many hadiths from Shiite Imams that confirms Nowruz in Islamic era. Using a historical and analytical method, the study referred at first to the importance and status of Nowruz in ancient Iran and then tried to explore its importance and status in Islam.