Monday, March 19, 2007

Swedish Radio wishes the world Happy New Year, in four languages


A New Year begins for many people in Sweden and the rest of the world at seven minutes past one a.m. on March 21st. Persians, Afghans, Tadjiks, Kurds, Azeris and Somalis celebrate Nowroz. Swedish Radio is broadcasting a New Year programme in four languages: Persian, Kurdish, Somali and Azeri.
SR International has a special Nowroz broadcast from 2303 UTC Tuesday 20 March-0030 UTC on Wednesday 21 March on Swedish Radio’s FM channels P2 and P6. The broadcast can also be heard via webstreaming and later on demand on the Internet www.sr.se/international.
The Nowroz programme takes up how mixed families celebrate the New Year in Sweden and how those Swedish youngsters, with parents who celebrate Nowroz, feel about the festivities.
Nowroz falls on the spring equinox. Preparations are much along the lines of those for Christmas: you buy presents, prepare food and have a spring-clean at home. On the New Year table you find seven items, all beginning with the letter S. Nowroz music is also a vital ingredient of the celebrations.
(Source: Radio Sweden/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)