Nowrūz (Persian: نوروز, (has various local pronunciations and spellings, e.g.: Kurdish: Newroz, نهورۆز, Azerbaijani: Novruz; Kazakh: Наурыз (Nauryz); Kyrgyz: Нооруз (Nooruz)) is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated by various Iranian and Turkic people in Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Albania, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Northwestern China, the Crimea, and the Balkans.
Nowruz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian calendar. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (start of spring in northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on the March 21st or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed.
In Iran Nowruz is referred to as an Eid festival, although it is not an Islamic feast, since "Eid" is the Arabic word for "feast". The word comes from Old Persian: nava = new + rəzaŋh = day/daylight, meaning "new day/daylight", and has the same meaning in Kurdish (naw = new + roz = day; meaning "new day") and New Persian (now/naw = new + rūz = day; meaning "new day").
The term Nooroz first appeared in Persian records in the second century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids (c. 648-330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian empire used to bring gifts to the emperor (Shahanshah) of Persia on Nowruz
