Hopkins celebrates Persian New Year

The Iranian Cultural Society (ICS) hosted its first annual Persian New Year ‘Sizdeh Bedar’ picnic on Thursday afternoon. Students gathered to commemorate the festivities with free Persian food and music on the Beach.

ICS Co-President Ana Ainechi explained the significance of Sizdeh Bedar in greater detail.

“Sizdeh Bedar translates to ‘getting rid of the thirteenth,’” Ainechi said. “Our new year is called Norooz, and this is the first day of spring. Thirteen days after spring, there is a tradition where we believe that the 13th day is bad luck, so everyone goes outside. They have picnics, spend time with their family and friends and enjoy the day. This picnic on the beach is our own Sizdeh Bedar celebration.”

The event solicited a very positive response, especially from students familiar with the Sizdeh Bedar celebration.

“This event is awesome,” graduate student Mehdi Pekar said. “The food is great, and I really like the music. It was the first time I’ve been to an event like this, and I’m not sure how active the Iranian Culture Society is on campus, but this is a really cool thing. They should keep doing more events like these.”

Fellow graduate student Amirhossein Ghanbari Niaki echoed this sentiment but added that an explanation from the ICS on the event’s cultural significance would have been helpful for those unacquainted with the celebration.

“Since we’re Iranian as well, this makes sense for us,” Niaki said. “However, I think they could have announced it better and advertised the event more. It might also help if there were a sign or something here explaining what this is for. Because some people have been coming up to me asking what this is about, and I had to explain it to them one by one. Instead, if there were a sign saying that this is a Persian ceremony, and explaining that its name is Sizdeh Bedar and so on, that would be really helpful.”

There were students who attended the event without any prior knowledge of ICS or the celebration’s contextual background.

“We actually don’t know what this is for,” sophomore Sherry Chiu said. “But we saw that they were giving out free food on the Beach and there was music playing. [This event] makes me want to know more. I have a friend who is Iranian, and I was just thinking of asking them more about what this event means later.”

Ainechi explained that this was the first time a Sizdeh Bedar picnic took place on the Beach.

“This is the first year we’ve done something for Sizdeh Bedar,” she said. “In previous years, we have also done celebrations for Norooz, the Persian New Year, that’s usually held in the Charles Commons Ballroom. This year we wanted to do something a little different. We thought if it was outside on the Beach, more people would be exposed to it and more people would want to come and enjoy our culture.”

Since the ICS is still in its growing stages, Ainechi explained that the group could only continue to grow in the future.

“The Iranian Culture Society has been on campus for a very long time, and I just joined last year,” she said. “Right now, we are a pretty small club. This is my first year as co-president, so I’m really trying to push forward our presence on campus. This is my first event. Going forward, we will be holding many more events.”

Ainechi also explained how there is a significant Persian population on campus and that in her experience, other people have enjoyed learning about Persian culture.

“I know that there are a lot of Persians on campus, but in addition to that, I know there are a lot of people that are interested in Persian culture; A lot of people enjoy our food; They enjoy our celebrations,” Ainechi said. “I have a lot of friends that come over whenever I host Persian parties, so I think that there is definitely something in this culture that everybody can enjoy, and it is something that everyone should experience.”

In addition, she spoke about how she hopes more students will be aware of the ICS in the future.

“We really recommend that everyone come at least to see what ICS is,” Ainechi said. “Many people think that because it is the Iranian Culture Society, people will not want to join unless they are any part Persian. But this is really for everybody. I haven’t really been immersed in this culture myself even, at least not that much, but still I am the co-president because I just want to learn more about it. This club really is for everybody.”