IMAN Foundation celebrates Nowruz

Sunday, 23 March 2014 10 more images

The IMAN Foundation celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year, by hosting a dinner with politicians, diplomats and members of the Persian community in central London.

Andrew Rosindell MP, H.E. Werner Romero (Ambassador for El Salvador), Dr. Iman Samizadeh and Mrs. Yasmin Allawi were also in attendance.

Potkin Azarmehr, a leading member of the Persian community and member of the IMAN Executive said the following in a speech:

"There are many traditions in my Iranian heritage that I am very proud of and there are some which I actually dislike but Nowruz is definitely one that I am extremely very proud of.

Nowruz, literally meaning New Day, celebrated on the first day of the Spring marks the rejuvenation of nature. It is the replacement of the old by the new and a celebration of life in general.

Nowruz is therefore not a religious ceremony, it can not be exploited by sectarianism. It is a unifying celebration which goes beyond the borders of Iran. Indeed it is celebrated in countries of Central Asia like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkeminstan and Afghanistan right to the Caucuses in countries like Daghistan and Republic of Azerbijan and to the West of Iran in the Kurdish speaking regions by people of all faiths and ethnicities.

Indeed there seems to be a collective wisdom for celebrating the Spring as there are joyous festivities across the world to mark the end of winter and the blossoming of the Spring.

It is therefore a celebration which I think is very much in tune with the objectives of what we aim to do in the IMAN Worldwide foundation. That is, promote inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue and challenge extremism by promoting the love for the greatest miracle on earth, life and all the joyous fruits of living together in harmony.

I therefore thank the IMAN chairman, Ribal for hosting tonight's celebration and so lets celebrate the Spring together."

The IMAN Foundation would like to thank Marzi Shabazi especially for putting together the traditional Haft-Seen table.

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