Party Like It’s 1398 at These Persian New Year Celebrations

The spring festival season has officially begun with carnival and mardi gras celebrations around the world. Fortunately, New Yorkers won’t have to wait until Easter or Holi to welcome the warmer weather; the Persian New Year is just around the corner. This year, Nowruz falls on March 21, but festivities run from March 16 through 25. Celebrate the Vernal Equinox and welcome in 1398 (on the Persian calendar) at one of these parties.

Technowruz III
March 16, 7:30pm to 2am, Trans-Pecos, 9-15 Wyckoff Ave, Ridgewood; tickets $9 to $12.
Ridgewood’s third annual Iranian New Year’s Dance Party heads off the Nowruz celebrations this year. Partiers can indulge in Iranian food and tea, browse zines and art by Iranian artists, participate in egg decorating, and light esfand, seeds which crackle to ward off bad spirits. There will be performances by the Googoosh Dolls, Rahill Jamalifard of Habibi, Mirza from Disco Tehran, and Joonie SZN.

Radio Javan Norooz Party
March 16, 10pm to 3am, 230 Fifth, 230 5th Ave, Flatiron; tickets $25 to $35.
Across town, from 10pm to 3am, Radio Javan will also kick off Nowruz on March 16. The DC-based, Persian-language radio station, which broadcasts Persian and Iranian music 24/7, is hosting Nowruz parties in DC, Rome, Milan, Florence, Dubai, and Istanbul this year. The New York installment will be hosted by DJs Delbar and Bahador.

Fire Jumping Spring Festival
March 19, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, Firemen’s Memorial Garden, 358 E 8th Street, East Village; free.
Chaharshabe Sori is a Zoroastrian fire-jumping tradition to purify just before the Persian New Year. On the last Wednesday of the Zoroastrian calendar, participants light bonfires through the night and jump through the fire to exorcise the bad spirits of the past year. This year, the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space and the environmental conservation group Time’s Up will celebrate the nearly 4,000-year-old tradition by inviting attendees to light small fires. They’ll jump over them at sunset, then dance and eat to the music of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra.

Disco Tehran – Nowruz Party
March 24, 7:30pm to 3am, Baby’s All Right, 146 Broadway, Williamsburg; tickets $12 to $20.
Disco Tehran, a party centering music from the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Latin America in the spirit of 1970s Tehran, hosts live shows with local and international bands across New York. Their Nowruz celebration will feature the Grammy-nominated Innov Gnawa collective playing music from the Moroccan Gnawa tradition, as well as Balkan brass band Slavic Soul Party! playing Balkan music with Roma, Klezmer, and New Orleans Jazz influences. Expect DJ sets from Nick AM, DJ Sanna, Mirza, and Mohandes, too.

Tarab NYC’s Queer Nowruz Party 1398|2019!
March 25, 6pm to 10pm, Henrietta Hudson, 438 Hudson Street, West Village; tickets $5 to $10.
Get ready to turn up on a Monday with Tarab NYC. The non-profit, which serves the city’s  LGBTQ Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African community, has lined up performances from DJ Fursa and the Tarab community. So come ready to dance and drink in typical Henrietta Hudson fashion.