This morning New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, celebrated NauRooz with the leaders of all ethnic communities observing NauRooz holiday at a breakfast at Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the New York City Mayor.

A gathering of almost 50+ individuals included five Zoroastrians (Zarin Mehta, President New York Philharmonic; Shirin Khosravi, President, IZA; Cyrus Mehta, well-known lawyer; Kayhan Irani, famous artist; and myself)–quite a representation for a small community.

After taking photographs with all attendees separately, the Mayor shared the breakfast at each table starting with mine. Afterwards, in a short speech, he acknowledged the contribution of all ethnic communities in the celebration of NauRooz, a time for rejuvenation and a time for “spring cleaning”. The event turned out to be very informal as everyone had a chance to mix with the Mayor and other guests.

Homi D. Gandhi, Main Representative,
FEZANA NGO at the United Nations

As originally posted on http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/NEWS03/803250370

(Accompanying video can be seen here)

POMONA - When Farzeen Patel’s mother was alive, she celebrated NauRooz by cooking a special meal and blessing family members by circling a silver tray laden with rice, coconut, chilies and incense, seven times over their heads.

But since her mother’s death, and since Patel’s busy life as a therapist doesn’t allow for elaborate meals and rituals, she and her family go to the Arbab Rustam Guiv Darbe Mehr on Pomona Road to celebrate NauRooz, the Zoroastrian New Year.On NauRooz, Zoroastrians around the world welcome the spring with special prayers, food and the Haftasheen table, which bears fruits, flowers, grains, wine and sweets, among other symbols of the changing season.

Zoroastrianism is one of the smallest and one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world. Its central message - think good thoughts; speak good words; and do good deeds - was preached by the prophet Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, as the Greeks called him, at least 2,600 years ago. …Read the rest of this entry »»»

Celebrating TEN YEARS of pride –
the Zarathushti Heritage & Cultural Center of Houston

Our celebration:

As a friend of the Zarathushti Heritage & Culture Center of Houston, we would be honored if you would attend our celebration and rejoice our moment in Zarathushti history!

It’s our great pleasure to invite you to be a part of our celebrations and share in our moment in Rejoicing Our Heritage.

A schedule of events is attached for your information. Please make plans to come and celebrate with us.

Looking forward to seeing you in Houston!

On Saturday, May 3th, 2008 the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York will participate in the annual Revlon Run/Walk for Women in the fight to help eradicate women’s cancers.

Over the past five years, with the participation of ZAGNY members, their families and friends, we have raised close to $25,000 for this worthy cause. Once again, we will be participating as a “team” for this event. The event is in New York City and participants can choose to run or walk this 5k race. It starts in Times Square and ends in Central Park. Our team usually meets at a specified location at 8:30 am. Exact location details will be sent to you via email 2 weeks prior to the event.

To register and join our team (Team #1109), please log onto the Run/Walk website. Our team name is Zoroastrian Association of Greater NY and the team number is 1109. The Registration fee of $30 includes your registration fee, a t-shirt, and a gift bag.

We encourage you, your family and friends to join our team to help raise funds for this very important cause and to support the thousands of women, who have fought this disease, are currently battling it, and the ones who have unfortunately lost their lives because of it. We thank you in advance for your support.

If you cannot participate in the actual event but would like to make a contribution by clicking here, then selecting a participant to sponsor on our team (Team #1109).

If you have any questions, please call team captain Sheroo Kanga at 201-227-1890 or via email at kangavs@yahoo.com

Join us this year, and walk among thousands united by the power of the human spirit.

NAUROOZ DAY PARADE CELEBRATION

The fifth “PersianParade” in celebration of NauRooz Day is coming soon and it will take place on Sunday March 30, 2008. The Parade is expected to draw tens of thousands of participants and spectators in New York City. The Parade procession will march on Madison Avenue starting at 41st street and ending at 27th street. The Parade promptly begins at 12:00 noon.

It has been suggested by the organizers that the Zoroastrians participate among the very early floats. Adults and children may be in traditional Zoroastrian attire, preferably in white attire like Dagli, Dagla, etc.

We are planning to meet all Zoroastrians at the South West corner of Park Avenue and 41st Street around 10:00-10:30 AM Kindly ensure that everyone is ready and assembled at that corner as we will slowly proceed from there to Madison Avenue to be ready to commence the Parade sharp at NOON. Please email your name and telephone # to Khusheed Navder (secretary@zagny.org) so that we have a record of all attendees at the Parade. Thank you.

LET US MAKE THIS NAUROOZ DAY A GREAT SUCCESS!

Homi Gandhi and Jamshed Ghadiali