Kalila Snow Jan: Nowruz Mubarek!

It's been awhile since the last time I updated my blog, I've been blown away by the overwhelming world after I stepped out of my college life. Traveled a bit then settled down in Guangzhou for a year until now. I'm home now, my great-cultural home where I used to give all my heart to. All I felt was depression at the beginning of my extended visit, gradually I'm all about joy for each single minute of my time here. The first thing I'm proud of is the greatest hometown where I come from, Urumqi, Xinjiang, the biggest province of whole China. Its histories and culture fascinate me.

Today is a brand new day of a year, the reason why I continue my blog on this meaningful day, firstly I'd like to congratulate everyone who celebrates Nowruz - Nowruz Mubarak! Nowruz (Persian: نوروز‎‎; [nouˈɾuːz]; literally "New Day") is the name of the Iranian New Year also refered to as Persian New Year, which is celebrated worldwide by Iranian peoples, along with some other ethno-linguistic groups.

Also called	Albanian: Novruzit Azerbaijani: Novruz Georgian: ნავრუზი – Navruzi Gujarati: નવરોઝ – Navarōjha Kazakh: Наурыз – Nawrız Kurdish: Newroz‎ Kyrgyz: Нооруз – Nooruz Ossetian: Новруз – Novruz Tajik: Наврӯз – Navrūz Turkish: Nevruz Uzbek: Navruz

The first day on the Iranian calendar falls on the March equinox, the first day of spring, around 20 March. At the time of the equinox, the sun is observed to be directly over the equator, and the north and south poles of the Earth lie along the solar terminator; sunlight is evenly divided between the north and south hemispheres. In around the 11th century CE major reforms of the Iranian calendars took place and whose principal purpose were to fix the beginning of the calendar year, i.e. Nowrūz, at the vernal equinox. Accordingly, the definition of Nowruz given by the Iranian scientist Ṭūsī was the following: "the first day of the official new year [Nowruz] was always the day on which the sun entered Aries before noon".

Nowruz is celebrated in the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Black Sea basin, the Balkans, and by Iraniansworldwide. It is a public holiday in Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Albania, Kosovo, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Also the Canadian parliament by unanimous consent, has passed a bill to add Nowruz to the national calendar of Canada, on March 30, 2009.

Other notable celebrations take place by Iranians around the world, such as Los Angeles, Toronto, Cologne and in United Kingdom, mainly in London. But because Los Angeles is prone to devastating fires, there are very strict fire codes in the city. No fires are allowed even on one's own property. Usually, Iranians living in Southern California go to the beaches to celebrate the event where it is permissible to build fires. On 15 March 2010, The United States House of Representatives passed The Nowruz Resolution (H.Res. 267), by a 384–2 vote, "Recognizing the cultural and historical significance of Nowruz, ... .".

Nowruz in my hometown is pretty much a big celebration, it is celebrated by different kinds of minorities such as Uyghur, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tatar etc. It is equal to the spring festival celebration among the majority of Han Chinese people. Nowruz means a start of a spring season, it is time for spring production in the rural areas.

I'm so glad to finally keep updating my blog, and continue exploring the vast knowledge of the world that I live in. I've been home for a couple of month now, I feel great and even better overall, depression and insomnia devoured me when I lived in Guangzhou, I thought I lost my mind again like the darkest time of my life iterated. I needed psychiatric help, so there I decided to abandon Guangzhou and booked a flight back home as if I was on a journey to find my Yoda for help and instructions. My mom has always been for me, she's been my personal therapist/psychiatrist since the day I was mentally damaged by the series of events that had to destroy me. I feel so much brighter now and try to enjoy each minute and second of my life.

I'm personally celebrating a brand new me as well as celebrating a brand new day of the year. Let me conclude this post with a photoset that I have been taking since I came back home.