While most of the world prepares for the holiday, nations in Africa and the Middle East do not celebrate the start of the New Year on these dates, either for cultural or religious reasons.
Among the most important is the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose main annual festival is Nowruz, or New Day, which always begins on the first day of spring exactly at the equinox.
The Persian calendar is based on a solar year and is approximately 365 days long, a year spanning four seasons, beginning when the sun appears to cross the equator from the southern to the northern hemisphere as viewed from the center of the earth, so your new year begins in March.
For its part, Israel expects him between September and October, as they are considered the dates when, according to religious tradition, God created the world and their festivals last 10 days known as Days of Reflection, ending with Yom Kippur or Day of Forgiveness .
In this region, many Muslim nations celebrated the beginning of the Islamic New Year, also known as the Arabic New Year or Hijrī, on July 28, 2022.
Although many Islamic countries follow the Gregorian solar calendar, the lunar calendar is used to calculate the dates of religious holidays and important festivals.
Because the Hijrī is based on the movements of the moon, the Muslim calendar is only 354 or 355 days long, about 11 days shorter than the Gregorian solar calendar, which is 365 days (366 in leap years).
Umar I, the second Muslim caliph, introduced such a calendar in AD 639 as part of a broader attempt to standardize, organize, and possibly differentiate Islamic life and its traditions from those of other religions.
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, the New Year or Enkutatash is celebrated in September, more precisely on the 11th according to the Gregorian calendar, or on the first day of the month of Meskerem according to the Ethiopian one.
Enkutatash means gift of jewels and marks the end of the rainy season. This date is also associated with the return of the Queen of Sheba to Ethiopia after King Solomon’s visit to Jerusalem.
On this day, Ethiopians give each other yellow daisies symbolizing the sun, one of the rituals is burning a fir or eucalyptus, a fire is lit in the main square of the capital, around which people dance and drum.
It is believed that the top of the burned tree after it falls indicates an area where the greatest harvest can be expected.
Coincidences or not, months before or months after, the truth is that whatever the date, culture or religion, the new year marks a different beginning in which hopes for a better future always meet everyone’s expectations.
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