On March 21 of each year, millions of Kurds, Persians, Pashtuns, Azeris and other ethnicities celebrate Nowruz, which means “new day” in Persian and Kurdish and is equivalent to New Year’s Day for these communities.
Nowruz is considered the only holiday celebrated by different ethnicities and religious groups across the globe. It is an official holiday in many countries, including Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, the South Caucasus, the Crimean Peninsula, the Balkans, Kashmir, the Indian state of Gujarat and northwest China.