The 50-60,000 Afghan refugees currently spreading out across the U.S. will face a new issue in a couple of weeks: How to celebrate Nowruz, the wildly popular Persian New Year, in a new land. It happens on Sunday, March 20th this year.
Since Iām often on the hunt for a celebration, this challenge resonates with me. If it does you as well, join me in one or more of these three things Iām planning to do:
Get a Goldfish
Having secured permission from my long-suffering wife, I plan to grab a couple goldfish this week along with a suitable bowl and food. Goldfish are part of the traditional Nowruz display called haft-seen. For Nowruz, they symbolize life. For us theyāll serve as reminders to pray for Muslims. Youāre welcome to share our fishiesā names too: Farsi and Dari! (Plastic goldfish work too!)
Gift a Goldfish
As part of a broader effort to host a Nowruz party for some local Afghan refugees, Iām going to offer to buy goldfish for some families. This gets into potential cultural quagmire: Maybe they donāt want a goldfish! But maybe they think it would be offensive to say no. Maybe it would feel bad if they got a goldfish, but others didnāt. Iām going to ask people closer to the situation to scout this out.
GIF a Goldfish
OK, not actually a gif, but on Sunday I plan to show this slide to encourage my church to pray for Afghans around Nowruz. This is a golden opportunity to provide a timely and hopeful prayer invitation. Iāll also include a link to this prayer guide. (If you have a better one, please let me know.)