Nowruz greeting, 2026

With the coming of spring, Nowruz returns — a celebration of renewal, hope, and wisdom.

This year, we honour the resilience of the people of Iran, Afghanistan, and others across the region whose everyday lives have been upended by war.

From our research in the Invisible East corpus, whose documents reveal so much about the lives of regular people in the medieval period, we share a small document from Firuzkuh, Afghanistan, written around 800 years ago (614/1217–18): a simple order for 100 mann of apples (c. 83 kg), among the earliest surviving texts in New Persian.

On the Nowruz haft-sin table, the apple — a symbol of health and wisdom — confirms the enduring power of hope, beauty, and love.

Photo by Bruno Scramgnon on Unsplash