War-torn new year festivities for Iran

Sarvanaz remembers celebrating Iranian new year as a girl under the bombs of the Iran-Iraq war.

- STORY: AFP

People watch fireworks in celebration of Nowruz, Iranian New Year, in Tehran, Iran, on March 18, 2025.

As Tehran is again shaken by explosions, she said marking the Nowruz festival has again taken on new meaning."For me, it's an obligation of being Iranian, it's our root, it's not just celebrating springtime and rebirth of the earth," the 45-year-old told AFP from Paris, where she lives now. “For me it's resistance.”

The ancient holiday is celebrated in Iran and neighbouring countries on the equinox in March, typically marked by weeks of anticipation as families prepare Haft-Seen tables — a symbolic arrangement of foods and objects, including apples, sprouted greens, painted eggs and poetry.

This year Sarvanaz, who asked to only use her first name for security, decorated her egg with a blue sky and a sun.

"For me it’s peace, it’s a sky with no bombs and always shining."

Iranians inside the country and around the world are marking the Nowruz holiday on Friday under the shadow of the US-Israeli war with Iran that has sent shockwaves around the world.

But while the conflict has made marking the normally joyful festival of spring and the new year painful for some, many told AFP it felt even more important to celebrate under the circumstances.