It's #Nowruz tomorrow, and as many won't be able to celebrate as normal, I thought I'd use a thread to take us all back to Nowruz Fath-ʿAli Shah style (this related by George Fowler in his 1841 'Three Years in Persia'). 
As you can imagine, there was lots of ceremony, and it would be a v v long thread if I mentioned it all, so this will just be some highlights. But, first, a quick note on the timing of the festival, which Fowler clearly appreciates:
He goes on: 'The Shah's splendour on these grand occasions has been described to me as perhaps the most gorgeous display in the world. The immense riches of the crown jewels would buy a kingdom... he seems made up of diamonds, pearls, and all the sparkling stones in the world.'
When all the princes, ministers, and ambassadors, were assembled around the Shah (as he's depicted in the image at the start of this thread), he would distribute gold and silver coins held in a large vase. He would also give robes of honour (خلعت), largely produced in Kerman.
After this, celebrations continued for days, & there were even fireworks! 'They commenced with Bengal flames, which had a very fine effect; then they let off in confusion a prodigious quantity of cases of crackers and rockets.' (Sorry, struggling to find depiction of fireworks..)
Then there was horse racing, wrestling, and archery (involving the little princes using servants as moving targets, but luckily they couldn't fire far enough to hit them).
While we may not all be wearing our robes of honour tomorrow, I hope those who want to can still celebrate in their own ways. Seeing as 2020 has been awful so far, let's hope we can start over with 1399.
سال نو مبارک!
سال نو مبارک!
