Urge your senators to join Senator Markey’s legislation to get the U.S. back into the Iran Nuclear Deal! |
Dear friend,
March 20th is the beginning of Norooz (“new day”), the Persian New Year. For Iranians, it is the biggest celebration of the year. They prepare by cleaning their houses and buying new clothes. But it’s hard for Iranians to celebrate while they are dealing with what were Trump’s, and are now Biden’s, crippling sanctions.
Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts has reintroduced the Iran Diplomacy Act to bring the U.S. back into full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. Tell your senators to support this essential act! It is especially important that we get Senators Menendez (NJ), Cardin (MD), Coons (DE), Sinema (AZ), Kelly (AZ), and Schumer (NY) on board.
Norooz starts at the exact astronomical beginning of the Spring. This year, that’s Saturday, March 20th at 05:37:28 in Washington D.C. and 13:07:28 in Iran. The New Year comes with many traditions: Iranians make fires that they jump over while singing Zardi man az to (“take my sickness and pale color”) and Sorkhi to az man (“give me your warmth and love for this new year”). Preparations for Norooz include a table with seven ritual items:
- An apple (seeb) for beauty
- Garlic (seer) for health
- Vinegar (serke) for patience
- A dish of wheat (samanoo) for food
- A special kind of berry (senjed) for love
- A coin (sekke) for prosperity
- Sumak spice (somagh) for taste
Other Norooz ritual items include mirrors for truth, candles and fire to represent warmth and life, a dish of growing sprouts for newness and generational roots, live goldfish for freedom, an orange floating on a bowl of water to represent how the earth floats in the universe, and books of poetry and faith.
Tell your senators to help Iranians start their new year with the lifting of deadly U.S. sanctions.
After the arrival of Norooz, Iranians visit loved ones and exchange gifts. Norooz is a time for new school clothes for children and for all to enjoy family and community. But U.S. sanctions have not only devastated the Iranian economy, placing new clothing and gifts out of the grasp of many Iranians, but they have exacerbated the effects of COVID-19 as necessary medicines and medical equipment cannot get in. Help make this Norooz one of hope by telling your senators to support Markey’s legislation to get the U.S. back into the Iran Nuclear Deal.
Toward a new day,
Leila, Ariel, Carley, Ann, Angela, Ciara, Cody, Danaka, Emily, Farida, Grace, Jodie, Kelsey, Leonardo, Maxine, Mary, Nancy, Paki, Sana, and Teri