CELEBRATING ETHNICITY, IRANIAN AMERICAN STYLE

Preface

This series of three videocasts by filmmaker Erik Friedl focuses on the Iranian New Year “Nowruz” (literally New Day), as celebrated in the United States and specifically in Los Angeles, home to the largest community of Iranian immigrants and their descendants in America. The venues are public festivals, sponsored and promoted by the community and staged in Westwood and Balboa Park.

Culture, politics, and identity are the themes that bind all three segments. While these festivals attract large crowds, as do music concerts held in conjunction with this festive holiday, most Iranian Americans celebrate Nowruz in the privacy of their homes, with family and friends. The Haft Sin table, a display of seven objects that start with the Persian alphabet letter sin (equivalent to the English letter s), is a tradition based on an ancient practice that symbolizes the coming of spring, new beginnings, abundance, and prosperity.

   PERSIAN NEW YEAR, LOS ANGELES STYLE

This short introductory documentary features a voice-over narrative and provides the viewer with the essential information about Nowruz in the broader context of Iranian immigration and settlement in the United States. The setting is the last day of Nowruz--the culmination of the festival known as Sizdah Bedar--and is held on the grounds of Balboa Park in the San Fernando Valley where many Iranian Americans reside. On this happy occasion, Iranians celebrate the passage of bad luck or “getting rid of thirteen.” At the end of the day, the sabzeh—or sprouts—that were grown at the beginning of Nowruz are taken from the Haft Sin table and thrown into a river, symbolizing both the cycle of life and the jettisoning of all sickness, pain and bad luck that would have marred the coming year.