Celebrate Persian New Year at Glendale College

The Glendale Community College Persian Club presents a Nowruz Baazar - a celebration of the Persian New Year - on March 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in San Rafael Plaza on the GCC campus, 1500 N. Verdugo Road in Glendale.

The club will have several booths to represent the different aspects of the Persian culture such as a Haft-seen table, a beautiful display of seven articles with their names starting with S to represent life, health, happiness, prosperity, love, joy and beauty; and a Chay Khaneh, a traditional tea house that is a place to relax, eat, drink and talk - mostly for men. The strings of history, philosophy, music, culture and art are all attached to the walls of this cozy yet profound setting.

The Persian Club will also host Persian artist Badri Borghei for the Nowruz Festival. In 1997, Borghei was recognized by the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles and received a proclamation from former Mayor Richard Riordan. Her artworks have been used in lectures by professor Michael Hillman at Texas State University at Austin. More information about her work can be found at www.badriborghei.com.

Displays of Persian musical instruments such as the tombak, tar, daf, darieh and santoor will also be featured.

A display of Persian hand crafts, miniature frames, statues, Persian rugs and samovar will also be featured.

Shiraz, one of the most beautiful and historical cities of Iran, will have its own booth with a display of artwork, foods and pastries.

Books such as "Iran, the Ancient Land," with beautiful pictures of different parts of Iran, "Shahnameh" by Ferdowsi, in English and biographies of great Armenian characters as Hafez and Khayam willbe available.

Children are an important part of the Nowrus celebration. The Persian Club will have Haji-Firuz, a disguised face character in bright red clothes, singing and entertaining the children. His red costume symbolizes the blood and tragic fate of the legendary Prince Siavush and the rebirth of the god of sacrifice, while his happiness and singing represent his joy at being reborn.

Persian foods will also be be sampled, such as Basmati rice with safran, kabob, chicken, ashe-reshteh (traditional Persian soup), ashe-balghoor, and more. For dessert, a traditional Persian ice cream will be served as well as Persian pastries.

For more information, call Paris Noori at 240-1000, ext. 5918.