Anil Kapoor to Karisma Kapoor, celebs share Navroz wishes

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 21 (ANI): As it’s a Navroz today, several celebrities extended the Parsi New Year wishes to their fans.

Taking to Instagram stories, Anil Kapoor re-shared a quote to wish his fans. The post read, “The morning wind comes in with Nowruz smell, with the joy of friends and good luck as well. May this year and your every year be blest, your days be joyous, today and the rest.”

Tara Sutari shared a picture of a table full of food on it and captioned it, “Happiest to be home, engulfed in the family: friendship and food. Saal Mubarak all.”

Karisma Kapoor dropped a photo with ‘Navroz Mubarak’ on it.

The ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ actor Delnaaz Irani extended the Parsi New year wishes from her and her boyfriend Percy Karkaria’s side.

She wrote, “Nowruz Mubarak! Lots of love Delnaaz & Percy.”

The festival is celebrated by Parsis all across the world. Navroz marks the first day of Farvardin, the first month in the Zoroastrian calendar, also known as the Shahenshahi calendar.

Although this Parsi New Year is observed across the globe on March 21, around the time of the vernal equinox, Parsis in India use the Shahenshahi calendar, which does not account for leap years. Due to this, India celebrates the Parsi New Year roughly 200 days after the rest of the globe. Parsis also observe Navroz in the month of August.

Navroz celebration is believed to date back to the time when Prophet Zarathustra founded Zoroastrianism, one of the earliest known monotheistic religions in the world, in Persia (now Iran). It was one of the most important religions in the ancient world until the emergence of Islam in the seventh century.

During the Islamic invasion of Persia, several Persians fled to India and Pakistan. Since then, their festivals have become a part of Indian festivities and are celebrated by people from diverse cultures.

For followers of Zoroastrian philosophy, this day represents the time when everything in the universe is completely renewed. Jamshed, a monarch of the ancient Sasanian Empire, is credited with introducing the Parsi calendar. Hence, this holiday is also called Jamshed-i-Nouroz.

On this occasion, Parsi families across India, especially in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat as they have a sizeable Parsi population, visit the holy temples to offer prayers.