This month, a host of communities across Orange County are celebrating a variety of religious holidays and welcoming the arrival of spring.
The new season comes as Muslims around the world begin their 30-day fast for Ramadan, Iranian Americans set up Haft-seen table displays for Persian New Year, Hindus gear up to smear each other with color powder for Holi, Christians prepare for Easter and the egg hunts that accompany it and as Jewish families get ready to sit together for a Passover seder in April.
Muslims Fast For Ramadan
What is Ramadan?
Muslims believe Ramadan is the month in which the first verses of the Quran, Islam’s religious doctrate, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad well over 1,000 years ago. The first day of fasting depends on the sighting of the new moon and starts on a different day each year because the Islamic calendar is lunar based.
This week, Muslims across Orange County and the world started a 30-day fast without food, drink and water from sunrise to sunset for the holy month of Ramadan.
While Ramadan is taking place in the spring this year, it starts on a different day every year because the Islamic calendar is lunar based.
[Read: This Ramadan, Meet Five of the Newest Members of OC’s Muslim Community]
For Muslims, Ramadan is a time for worshiping God and strengthening their faith, helping others and donating to charity as well as a time for self reflection and improvement.
Tarik Ata, Religious Director for OC Islamic Foundation mosque in Mission Viejo, said in a Tuesday phone interview that Muslims believe that there is an added reward from God for doing good deeds during the month.
“Ramadan can have slightly different meanings to different people depending on where they are in their relationship to Allah and their commitment to their faith. So for many people, Ramadan is really an opportunity to start fresh,” Ata said.
Ata said the violence in Gaza has motivated Muslims locally to make the most out of this month in comparison to other years.
“We believe that if we do a good job, and please God this month, then maybe that will bring about a solution,” He said. “They want to see a solution. They want to see a ceasefire. They want to see an end to the carnage.”
Ramadan is also a time for community members to come together in nightly prayers called Taraweeh and Iftar, the meal Muslims eat to break their fast after sunset.
In Anaheim’s Little Arabia, many of the restaurants host Iftar buffets for people to break their fast.
The Iftar buffets aren’t one of the only staples of Ramadan in OC.
A local Muslim youth group has started a new tradition last year to host a Ramadan night market in an effort to provide the atmosphere of Ramadan nights in the Middle East here in Southern California.
This year Muslim Youth of OC, the group, plans to host their second Ramadan night market on March 23 from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. at South Baylo University in Anaheim.
Nowruz – Celebrating a New Year
What Does Nowruz Commemorate?
Nowruz, or Persian New Year, occurs on the vernal equinox, typically between March 19-21, marking the arrival of spring.
Celebrations last for 13 days. The tradition has its roots in Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion that predates both Christianity and Islam.
Nowruz or Persian New Year is also taking place this month on March 19th with a host of events planned in OC.
The thousands year old celebration for many
Persians is about hope, new beginnings and spring cleaning.
[Read: Iranian Americans Hope For a Better Year in Orange County This Nowruz]
Faye Hezar, a Newport Beach resident, said the ancient celebration of Nowruz dates back to the Persian empire and has endured throughout history.
“That’s why it’s so important for the Iranians. It’s one of the most beautiful celebrations,” she said, adding that Persians are not the only ones who celebrate the holiday but so do people in central asia, the Balkan region and more.
“It’s about getting rid of the old and making room for the new, making room for happy memories and the end of the darkness of the winter. Celebrating the beauty of the spring and new birth.”
Hezar adds the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran and the violence in Gaza is on a lot of people’s minds entering the new year.
“My hope is for peace, for freedom for Iran and everybody that’s suffering all over the world,” she said.
Like others, Hezar sets up in her home what is called a Haft-Seen, a table display that includes items representative of people’s hopes and aspirations for the new year.
The main seven items that are on the Haft-seen start with the letter S in Farsi and hold symbolic meaning. These items include dried fruit for love, sprouts for rebirth, garlic for health, apples for beauty, vinegar for patience, sumac for a new day and sweet pudding for wealth.
One of the annual events in OC is the International Society of Children With Cancer (ISCC) Nowruz bazaar that sells homemade food and decorations for Haft-seen displays. The proceeds go to help children with cancer.
The bazaar opened on March 11 at the ISCC offices in Irvine and will close on Sunday March 17th.
The Network of Iranian American Professionals of Orange County, a nonprofit organization, is hosting a Nowruz celebration at the Hilton in Costa Mesa from 6 p.m. to midnight on March 16.
The Iranian American Chamber of Commerce LA & OC chapter will be hosting a Nowruz festival & market at the Irvine Hilton on Sunday March 17 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. with food, music, dancing activities for kids and Haft-seen displays.
On March 24, the Iranian American Community Group Orange County will host their 10th annual Nowruz festival at Bill Barber Park in Irvine with live music, food and activities.
Holi: a Festival of Color
Hindus are also gearing up to welcome spring with Holi – a festival of color typically observed and celebrated in India and Nepal where people smear and drench each other with colored powder as well as throw water and water balloons at each other.
Seema Choudhary, founder of the OC Indian Women group, and other community members have helped bring the colorful celebrations to life here in Orange County every year for the past decade.
“Holi is a festival of colors and how people come together. It’s about unity and belongingness and we have you know a lot of religious stories also but mainly it’s to welcome spring,” she said in a Monday interview.
“In the winter everything is so gray and in spring everything becomes colorful.”
Choudhary started the Women’s group ten years ago to help bring the local Indian community together in OC and now she says the group reaches and connects 60,000 people.
“There was a need for the community to be together, for one platform where people can ask questions, feel free to belong, and if someone new comes in, they would know where to find friends,” she said.
Choudhary also said Holi, a two day festival, helps bring people together again and bury bad blood.
On the night before Holi, Hindus have a bonfire called Holika Dahan which commemorates the victory of good versus evil and the Hindu legend of an evil king, his sister Holika and his pious son Prahlada.
“We put all the bad things, the evil things in the fire and then pray to God for the new things, better things to come into our life,” Choudhary said, adding people typically throw wood, leaves, and cow dung cakes into the fire to symbolize the burning of negativity.
This year, Holi is on March 25 and Choudhary’s group will host a Holi celebration on March 25 at Bill Barber Park in Irvine from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Easter, Pascha & Holy Week
At the end of the Month, Christians across the world will be celebrating Holy Week starting with Palm Sunday on March 24 and ending with Easter Sunday on March 31.
Father Angelos Sebastian, the Vicar General of the Diocese of Orange and Pastor at Saint Kilian Church in Mission Viejo, said in a Wednesday phone interview that the week and Easter is an opportunity for people to have a fresh start.
“It’s a day of victory for us. It’s a day that offers hope to all of us that God is a forgiving God, and God himself dies on the cross for us,” he said. “We make mistakes, nobody’s perfect, but we can always find mercy and hope in our Lord Jesus.”
Holy week is the last season of Lent and starts with Palm Sunday which commemorates Jesus Christ’s entry and welcome into Jerusalem where Christians believe he begins a week-long journey that will culminate in his crucifixion, death for the sins of the world and resurrection on what is today called Easter Sunday.
On Monday, the whole Catholic Diocese of OC holds a Chrism Mass where all the priests serving in the local diocese come to the Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove to bless oils and renew their vows.
“The whole day, we come to the diocese, and all the priests, we spend a day in prayer and reflection,” Sebastian said.
The Chrism Mass will take place at 5:30 p.m.
On Thursday, Christians celebrate Holy Thursday commemorating Jesus’ last supper with his disciples and when he instituted the sacraments of Holy Eucharist or communion and priesthood.
Holy Thursday is followed by Good Friday – commemorating the day Jesus is crucified.
“We don’t call the Friday our lord died in a bad Friday or sad Friday or tragic Friday, we call it Good Friday. The reason why it is called the Good Friday is because it is actually by dying on the cross that Jesus set us free from sin and death,” Sebastian said.
On Holy Saturday, Catholics hold an Easter night vigil which Sebastian said can go on for hours as new converts are baptized, receive first communion and confirmation. There is also a service of the light
“We enter into the church when it is all dark and then the whole church is lit with candles that reminds us that Christ is the light of the world. He is leading us from darkness into His divine light,” Sebastian said.
The next day is Easter which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Orthodox Christians from Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East will be celebrating Pascha – known to some as Greek Easter – on May 5 this year about a month after Catholics and Protestants do.
Typically, the day is celebrated with a church service, a large family meal of lamb and dying hard boiled eggs red to represent the blood of Jesus Christ.
Father Christopher Retalas of the St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Anaheim said in a Thursday phone interview that Orthodox Easter resonates in the community.
“We consider it to be the feast of all feasts, the festival of all festivals, and so it is a joy where we receive the light of Christ in his life, and rejoice in the light of His resurrection,” he said.
Orthodox Christians also partake in Holy Week – sometimes called Passion Week – and churches hold a midnight vigil the Saturday before Easter.
“Each service of Holy Week is tremendous, unique and beautiful and very moving too so Orthodox faithful attend as many of the services as possible. There are services every single day of Holy Week and then all of it really culminates in the beauty of the resurrection service,” Retelas said.
There will also be Easter egg hunts all around the county this month.
To view local Easter egg hunts and events, click here and here.
Passover
Jewish people all over the world including Orange County will be celebrating Passover from April 22 to April 30.
Passover commemorates the Israelites departure and liberation out of slavery from Ancient Egypt and the story of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea.
Nancy Myers, the rabbi at Temple Beth Devid in Westminster, said in a phone interview Wednesday that for Jewish people Passover is a really important holiday.
“It really is a beautiful holiday of bringing people together in the present, having people around the table, sharing the stories, remembering our history, reconnecting in the present,” Myers said.
During Passover, Jewish families hold what is called a seder at their homes were people sit together at a table.
“You have a kind of service there with ritual foods that are eaten, to remember and recall our people’s experience in Egypt,” Myers said. “The Seder is very important.”
She adds that people eat horseradish to remember the bitterness of slavery and a jewish flatbread that is not leavened called matzah.
Myers said there are also foods Jews are prohibited from eating during passover like leavened bread.
She also said currently in the world there is much pain with everything happening in Palestine and Israel and she hopes for peace in the region.
“I hope for security for Israel,” she said. “I hope for food and housing and a good future for the Palestinians in Gaza.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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