Sindh

Diversity in rituals: For this small group of Shias, Nauroze is all about colours

The Ithna Asheri followers celebrate only one day with a different colour theme every year.

Yusra Salim March 19, 2015

The Nauroze celebrations across the world usually include a table full of delicious food and other items and last nearly 13 days for some Parsi families. PHOTO: INP

KARACHI: For a small group of Ithna Asheri followers, Nauroze is about the celebration of joy. And they do that by choosing a specific colour theme on the day of the festival every year.

This small Shia community will start their Nauroz celebrations early on Saturday morning.

The Nauroze celebrations across the world usually include a table full of delicious food and other items and last nearly 13 days for some Parsi families. “The Parsi community celebrates Nauroze by playing with colours, much like the Hindus celebrate Holi,” pointed out 21-year-old Noor Fatima. “But we [Shias] celebrate joy.”

Fatima explained that the day is important for them to pray for the health, wealth and happiness of their families. “We have different colour themes for every year and this year the colour theme is black,” she told The Express Tribune.

Mujtahideen, the religious scholars from Iran, calculate the movement of stars and moon and then announce the colour theme of the year, the time and the date of celebrations, explained Zareena Raza Morvi, a community member. These scholars prepare a guide book, ‘Imamia Jantri’, which includes the time, day and date of all the religious festivals every year to help the devotees. The same guide book stated that the celebrations this year will take place on March 21 and the prayers will be held at 3:45am.

“We donate our dresses [from Nauroze] to the poor,” Morvi explained. “Because Nauroze falls after midnight, we mostly just rejoice and pray with our families at our homes,” she added.

“We spend the day at home with our families and welcome the spring season,” said Nadir Toosi, another community member.

The women prepare delicious food and invite other relatives over. The names of the dishes on the Nauroze table all start with ‘S’, he added. “The table comprises things that symbolise health, wealth and happiness,” said Toosi’s mother, who refused to share her name. “We also place the same number of eggs on the table as the number of children in the house,” she explained.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2015.