Despite more than thirty years of bitter warfare, the Afghans remain proud of their culture, traditions, and ancient history and civilisation. This pride is displayed most dramatically in the celebrations surrounding the Nawruz or the Persian New Year on 21 March.

Nawruz is a Persian festival which is celebrated by people in Afghanistan, Iran Tajikistan, Kurdistan and other parts of the Persian-speaking world. Nawruz is the first day of Hamal (Farvardin), the first month of the Afghani or Iranian solar year. Since ancient times it has been the great national holiday. In the Persian language it is also known as "sol-e-naw" which means new year. On this day all over Afghanistan and Iran special ceremonies are arranged and people gather to welcome enthusiastically the onset of a new year with singing, dancing, picnics and special dishes.

The celebration of Nawruz in the Persian-speaking world goes back hundreds of years. In 2010 the United Nations General Assembly recognized the International Day of Nowruz, describing it as a spring festival of Persian origin which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years. The festival has since been officially registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The word "Nawruz" is a compound of two Persian words, "naw" which means new and has the same etymology as the English word and "ruz" which means both "day" and "time." Literally meaning the "new day," Nawruz is usually translated as "new year." Nawruz begins on the first day of spring (usually the 21st of March). This date represents the first day of the first month of the Afghan year according to the solar calendar (also known as Hamal 1390). The difference between the Afghan and occidental calendar is 621 years.

Preparation for the Nowruz begins early in March with a thorough khane tekani (house cleaning). washing carpets, painting the house, and cleaning the yard in preparation for the festivities. This is followed by kharid-e Nawruzi (Nowruz shopping). Nowruz shopping is a family affair designed to engage children in the celebration. All family members must be measured and outfitted with new clothes, shoes, hats, and the like. In addition, the sofreh (Nowruz display cloth) requires certain items -- sweetmeats, confectioneries, candles, fruits, and nuts -- which are also bought at this time. In addition to what is bought, women of the household bake various types of sweet breads and sew special clothes for the little ones. Finally, a visit to the bank is undertaken to acquire shiny, new coins and crisp, fresh banknotes to give out as eydi (gift) and for the sofreh.

In this day a special sweet dish is prapared by Afghans people called "haft meewa" (seven fruits) and offered to guests and family members. This is like a fruit salad made from seven different dried fruits, served in their own syrup. The fruits used are raisins, senjed (the dried fruit of the oleaster tree), pistachios, hazelnuts, prunes, walnuts and either almond or another species of plum.

Afghans also cook special types of dishes for Nawruz, especially on the eve of the festival. Normally, they cook sabzi chalaw, a dish made from rice and spinach, separately. Moreover, the bakeries prepare a special type of biscuit, called kulcha-e Nowrozī, which is only baked at this time. Another traditional dish is māhī wa jelabī (fried fish and jelabi) and it is the popular dish for picnics. In Afghanistan, it is a common custom for a fiancé's family to give presents to or prepare special dishes for the fiancée's family on special occasions such as in the two Eids, Barā'at and in Nawruz.

Samanak is another Persian delicacy popular at Nawruz. It is a sweet paste made from germinated wheat, which begins to sprout in the days just before Nawruz and is eaten from Nawruz onwards. It is made collectively by women who sit around the boiling samanak pot on the fire all night singing songs. The samanak is then served in the morning accompanied by a song including the words:

Samanak dar Josh o mā Kafcha zanem - Degarān dar Khwāb o mā Dafcha zanem
Nawruz is above all a day to celebrate with the entire family, especially the children, who ride Ferris wheels, participate in kite running competitions and spend the day at the park. Kite flying is a traditional Afghan custom, particularly among the children and youth of Kabul. At Nawruz the sky is full of colourful kites all around the city, particularly in the hills of Tapai Malang Jan.

Outside Kabul Nawruz is also celebrated, but often in quite different ways. In the provinces, for instance, the festival might be a pretext for indulging in the ancient sport of buzkashi. This is a game of daring and courage, a traditional Afghan horse-riding sport commonly played at Nawruz. It is held on an open plain with a decapitated calf placed in the centre of the field before the judges. The object of the game is to ride with the carcass around some specified points before dropping the calf back in the centre, while the other horse riders try to snatch away the calf and make a run themselves. This is believed to be an early version of polo.

Afghanistan is still primarily an agricultural country and Nawruz is often referred to as the Festival of Farmers. Farmers often walk through the city streets as a sign of encouragement for the agricultural productions. In recent years, this activity is being performed only in Kabul and other major cities, in which the mayor and other high governmental personalities participate for watching and observing.

Kassem Saikal was formerly a French teacher at Kabul University and in France and is now teaching French in Australia.