“Soul stirring experience”

Taking to heart the injunction of Fariborz Rahnamoon, editor of Iran Zamin (see "Jamshedi Navroze 2009,” Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, February 7, 2009), that the real Nou Rouz is when sunrise coincides with the spring equinox — this year at Chittanooga, Tennessee and Fort Wayne, Indiana — a group of Chicagoans gathered at sunrise on March 20 at the Spiral Stones sculpture (known as "America’s Courtyard”) on the Chicago lakefront at the Adler Planetarium, to witness the arrival of the "real NouRuz,” notes a report from Roshan Rivetna.

"The Stones are arranged in a spiral to represent the Milky Way galaxy,” writes Rivetna, adding, "Four central stones are precisely aligned to mark the equinox sunrise and sunset locations (directly east/west) and the north/south meridian locations.” The group set up a Haft Sheen table laden with all the symbolic items representing the creations, and recited prayers at this spectacular location with the backdrop of the Chicago skyline. Later in the day the Planetarium organized special programs to commemorate the spring equinox, with hands-on activities, talks, demonstrations and astronomy conversations.

As the sunrise in Chicago at 6.54 a.m. almost coincided with the equinox at 6.44 a.m. the Zoroastrians were ready to celebrate an event of special significance. "This phenomenon will not occur again for another 72 years in the vicinity of Chicago. After 2013, it will move to the Atlantic Ocean, and will not happen anywhere in North America in our lifetimes,” notes Rivetna.

"The ‘Earth Year’ or the ‘Solar year’ refers to the revolution of the earth around the sun. This is also called the ‘Sidereal Year’ in astronomical terms. In the northern hemisphere, it is the time period from one vernal equinox to the next. The alignment of the vernal equinox and sunrise shifts from meridian to meridian around the globe. This year, on March 20, sunrise coincided with the vernal equinox at 85 degrees 12 mins West Meridian, which is close to Chicago (Chicago’s meridian being 87 degrees 41 mins),” Rivetna provided the geographical explanation.

Alongside (L to R): Roshan Rivetna, Kaikhosrov Mobed, Niloufer Darukhanawalla, Rohinton Rivetna and Mani Rao. Above: Stones representing the Milky Way galaxy at the Adler Planetarium

Noting that the ancient Persians are known to have celebrated this event over 3,700 years ago — they marked the occasion with the positioning of fixed objects that aligned with the sun at the precise time of the equinox — Rivetna states, "They also observed that the alignment did not always occur at sunrise. There was a gap of many years before the alignment occurred at or close to sunrise. Archeological evidence is present in a bas relief at Persepolis, where this ‘real NouRuz’ was celebrated, in 487 BCE. Historians have recorded that a square stone was placed in the Apadana Palace where the first rays of the rising sun, coinciding with the equinox, marked the historic event.

"Over three millennia later, it was a soul stirring experience for the group of Chicago Zoroastrians to witness this unique astronomical phenomenon at the present-day Stone sculpture on the shores of Lake Michigan.”

About 800 Zoroastrians later gathered at the Burr Ridge Temple for the annual New Year celebration on March 21, noted Sandy Illian Bosch in an on-line report, commenting on the Zoroastrian worship earlier as well as a brief recount of who they are in terms of history.