Nowruz, which in Persian means “new day,” is an ancestral festivity based on the solar calendar, marking the first day of spring and symbolizing nature’s renewal, celebrated on the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere.
In 2025, the city partnered with the Alefba Group, a nonprofit cultural and social organization based in Bellevue, to host a special gathering to celebrate Nowruz on March 22, 2025, in the City Hall Concourse.
About Nowruz
Nowruz is celebrated through centuries-old traditions and symbolizes a time of personal renewal in harmony with nature and an opportunity to come together in community.
It is celebrated as a secular holiday by more than 300 million people around the world by a wide array of ethnic and cultural groups, including but not limited to Afghan, Azerbaijani, Balochi, Chechen, Hazara, Kazakh, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lezgin, Pashtun, Iranian, Tatar, Tajik, Turkmen, Uighur and Uzbek peoples.