NOWRUZ MANY EVENTS WERE HELD ACROSS USA AND CANADA TO CELEBRATE NOWRUZ, THESE ARE JUST A FEW. ALBERTA Neelum Austin , the president of Zoroastrian Association of Alberta (ZAA) reports that a Nowruz Jashan was performed by Mobed Burzin Atashband, assisted by Arash Ardeshiricham. This was followed by a Frashokereti Song presented by the ZAA Calgary Chorus Group, to the music of Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops’ version of The Age of Aquarius with lyrics by Firdosh Mehta. The singers were :Ruby, Farsos and Vahbiz Bulsara, Pervin Irani, Parvaneh & Kaykhosrow Javizian, Dina Khory, Firdosh Mehta, Shirin Modami, Bahar Salamaty, Nooshin Sohrabi-Sharifabad and Neelum Austin. There was also a Talent Show by the children : Mahrin Atashband, Bryanna and Kavi Balsara, Rhiya Cooper, Cyrus Irani, Kashmira Irani and Asha Pooladi-Darvish. The evening concluded with a dinner of Persian and Indian dishes.
CALIFORNIA NORTHERNSAN JOSE AND SAN FRANCISCO On Sunday, March 20th a thanksgiving jashan was held at the Dar e-mehr in San Jose followed by a traditional lunch of dhan/dal patia and traditional sweets, brought by members of the community. The Sunday School class of children under the guidance of their teacher Annahita Jasavala and their parents, prepared a 'haft-seen" table, with each child bringing an item for it. Everyone enjoyed being involved in growing their wheat sprouts and decorating the table. On Saturday March 26th, the Fasli Khordad saal, a dinner dance for the community was held in a local restaurant. Over 250 persons attended and enjoyed meeting and greeting each other, while noshing on the appetizers. A group of ladies and children entertained the audience with the song " Spreading Peace and Love" which was composed for the 9th World Zoroastrian Congress. Everyone ate, drank and danced the night away to the music of DJ Mehrdad, in true Zarathushti fashion.
CALIFORNIA SOUTHERNORANGE COUNTY On March 19th the Zoroastrian Association of California (ZAC) community enjoyed a very pleasant, balmy California evening celebrating Nowruz in the company of friends and family in our (relatively) new ZAC hall in Orange, California. A crowd of 200+ were entertained by stand-up comic Sami Rustomji, who regaled us with entertaining anecdotes, followed by our very talented Danish Bhandara, dancing in true Bollywood style. The raffle of a stuffed Wells Fargo pony created a lot of excitement among young and old. (photo left) The highlight of the evening was the delicious food and the evening ended with energetic ZAC youngsters dancing the night away. A very positive start indeed to a wonderful New Year l! March 20th marking the arrival of “Nowruz” , a Jashan was performed by 8 mobeds led by Ervad Zarrir Bhandara. An interesting presentation of the Haft-seen table by the children
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FEZANA JOURNAL –Summer 2011