Nowruz 2026

Photo Mosaic

Nowruz is the Persian New Year, the "New Day" that has greeted spring for more than three thousand years. Rooted in Zoroastrianism and carried across West and Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans and South Asia, it falls at the northern spring equinox, that exact instant between roughly 19 and 22 March when day and night stand equal and the light begins to win. Communities mark it with fire and water rituals, dances, poetry and the giving of gifts; for Zoroastrians, Baha'is and Ismaili Shia it remains a holy day, and for most it is simply the year reborn.

The 2026 equinox chart could hardly suit the festival better. The Sun and Moon are both in Aries, the pioneer-warrior at the very first sign of the zodiac, that "ace position" of fresh starts, resilience and the courage to get up and begin again; here the will and the feeling nature agree, radiant and self-starting, an inner child ready to leap. The Sun sits in the sixth house of daily craft and renewal, the Moon in the seventh of partnership, joining the collective in celebration. And a Libra Ascendant, Venus's scale of balance and beauty, mirrors the equinox itself. A perfect equilibrium, and then the spring.