Nowruz in the context of "Name of Iran"

Iranian Kurdistan and Eastern Kurdistan (Kurdish: ڕۆژھەڵاتی کوردستان, romanized: Rojhilatê Kurdistanê) are unofficial names for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it includes the West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan province, Kermanshah province, Ilam province and parts of Hamadan province and Lorestan province.

In totality, Kurds are about 10% of Iran's total population and nearly all of them are bilingual in their ethnic language and Persian. According to the last census conducted in 2006, the four main Kurdish-inhabited provinces in Iran – West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah province, Kurdistan province and Ilam province – had a total population of 6,730,000. Kurds generally consider northwestern Iran (Eastern Kurdistan) to be one of the four parts of a Greater Kurdistan, which under that conception are joined by parts of southeastern Turkey (Northern Kurdistan), northern Syria (Western Kurdistan), and northern Iraq (Southern Kurdistan).

The Iranian calendars or Iranian chronologies (Persian: گاه‌شماری ایرانی, Gâh Šomâriye Irâni) are a succession of calendars created and used for over two millennia in Iran, also known as Persia. One of the longest chronological records in human history, the Iranian calendar has been modified many times for administrative purposes. The most influential person in laying the frameworks for the calendar and its precision was the 11th century Persian polymath, Omar Khayyam. The modern Iranian calendar is the Solar Hijri calendar, currently the official civil calendar in Iran.

Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, begins at the midnight nearest to the instant of the northern spring equinox, as determined by astronomic calculations for the meridian of Tehran (52.5°E). Thus the calendar is observation-based, unlike the Gregorian calendar, which is rule-based. This equinox occurs on or about 20 March of the Gregorian calendar. The time zone of Iran is Iran Standard Time, UTC+03:30.

Alawism (Arabic: علوية, romanized: ʿAlawiyya), also known as Nusayrism (Arabic: نصيرية, romanized: Nuṣayriyya), is an offshoot of early Shia Islam with influences from ancient Iranian, Christian, and Gnostic traditions. Its adherents, called the Alawites, are estimated to number around 4 million and are primarily concentrated in the Levant. Alawites venerate Ali ibn Abi Talib, the "first imam" in the Twelver school, as a manifestation of the divine essence.

Alawite beliefs are centered in a divine Trinity, comprising three aspects of the one God, the ma'na (meaning), the ism (name), and the bab (door). These emanations are understood to have undergone reincarnation cyclically seven times in human form throughout history, the last seventh incarnation being that of Ali, Muhammad and Salman the Persian. Alawite practices include consecration of wine in the form of Mass, entombing the deceased in sarcophagi, observing cultural holidays such as Akitu, Christmas, Nowruz, Mawlid and Gazwela.

Oleaster, signifying a plant like an olive, but less valuable (cf. poetaster), may be applied to:

• Feral olive trees that have been allowed to run wild
• Olea oleaster, the wild olive
• Various species of Elaeagnus, notably Elaeagnus angustifolia, the Russian olive, the dried fruits of which are eaten during Nowruz

Sumac or sumach (/ˈsuːmæk, ˈʃuː-/ S(H)OO-mak, UK also /ˈsjuː-/)—not to be confused with poison sumac—is any of the roughly 35 species of flowering plants in the genus Rhus (and related genera) of the cashew and mango tree family, Anacardiaceae. However, it is Rhus coriaria that is most commonly used for culinary purposes. Sumac is prized as a spice—especially in Iranian cuisine, and other Eastern cuisines—and used as a dye and holistic remedy. The plants grow in subtropical and temperate regions, on nearly every continent except Antarctica and South America.Native to Persia, it holds cultural significance as a symbolic item on the Haft-sin table during Nowruz, the Persian New Year.