Iranians Celebrate Festival to Mark Year's End

TEHRAN, Iran, March 13 (AP) - Iranians across the country on Tuesday jumped over raging bonfires that lit the night sky to celebrate an ancient festival marking the end of their year.

Celebrations for Chahar-Shanbe Suri (Wednesday Feast) begin on the last Tuesday evening of the year. Iranians young and old light bonfires, firecrackers and dance in the streets, hoping to put failures behind them and start the new year with prosperity.

The Iranian new year begins March 21.

The festival, one of the oldest traditions in Iran, is a symbolic opportunity to purify the soul for the new year. It also symbolizes revival and is marked by spring cleaning, buying new clothes and planting trees.

The festival has been frowned upon by hard-liners since the 1979 Islamic revolution because they consider it a symbol of Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion Iranians adhered to before the advent of Islam, and say it contradicts Islamic traditions. They have advised against holding the two-day celebrations.

``Chahar-Shanbe Suri is one of the superstitions and has no effect other than introducing blasphemy,'' the government-owned daily Iran quoted cleric Abbasali Akhtari as telling worshippers Friday.

This year's celebration was marked with fewer restrictions since it coincides with Wednesday's Qadir feast, an occasion celebrated by Shiite Muslims who believe Islam's prophet Muhammad appointed his son-in-law Ali as his successor during his last pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

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