Article about Norooz and Bay Area events including some quotes by Dr. Persis Karim in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper (Datebook)
Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 15:00
"Persian New Year festivities last 13 days during the month of March. The holiday — rooted in Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion that predates Christianity and Islam — has been celebrated for at least 3,000 years in Iran. But because of its Zoroastrian roots, it is observed worldwide, throughout Central and Western Asia and the Balkans, as well as in the United States and beyond."
“I love it as a holiday because it is elemental and seasonal,” said Persis Karim, director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University. “It marks a new year, literally. It is not in the dead of the winter. As spring arrives, you are saying, ‘Welcome to this new year.’”