Welcome Spring. It has a lot of flowers and perfumes. part 1

Spring festivals

Mesopotamia

Akitu (Sumerian Akiti-šekinku "cutting of barley", Akiti-šununum "sowing of barley", Babylonian rêš-šattim "head of the year") was a spring festival in ancient Mesopotamia. The name is from the Sumerian for "barley", originally marking two festivals celebrating the beginning of each of the two half-years of the Sumerian calendar, marking the sowing of barley in autumn and the cutting of barley in spring. In Babylonian religion it came to be dedicated to Marduk's victory over Tiamat.

Afghanistan

The first day of spring is the beginning of the new year, Nowruz, in the Afghan calendar. Nowruz (also Naw-Rúz, Norooz, Newroz, Navroj, and many other variants) marks an important traditional holiday festival celebrated in Afghanistan as well as in many other countries such as Azerbaijan, Iran and Tajikistan,

Persia

The first day of spring is the beginning of the new year, Nowruz, in the Iranian calendar. Nowruz (also Naw-Rúz, Norooz, Newroz, Navroj, and many other variants) marks an important traditional holiday festival celebrated in Iran as well as in many other countries with a significant population from one of various Iranian peoples, such as Azerbaijan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and by Kurdish communities in Turkey and Iraq and elsewhere.

May Day

May 1 is the date of several public holidays. In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, which celebrates the social and economic achievements of the labour movement. As a day of celebration the holiday has ancient origins, and it can relate to many customs that have survived into modern times. Many of these customs are due to May Day being a cross-quarter day, meaning that (in the Northern Hemisphere where it is almost exclusively celebrated) it falls approximately halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice.

Easter

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year.
Christians believe that Jesus was resurrected from the dead three days after his crucifixion, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day, two days after Good Friday.

Chinese New Year

The Chinese Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as Chúxī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".

India

Holi The most vibrant festival of colours celebrated by Hindus in India. People throw water and apply colour powders on each other.
Vasant Panchami: celebrated in North India

Vietnam

Vietnamese use lunar and solar calendars. The use of the former in this country happened long before the latter had been invented. The lunar calendar is used mainly to divide the year into seasons for agriculture purposes. People of this country start their Spring season with the celebration of Vietnamese New Year, or Tết in Vietnamese. In the old days, the celebration used to last the entire month of January of the lunar calendar. Traditionally, firecrackers are used on New Year's Eve, or đêm giao thừa in Vietnamese, to scare away bad spirits.

Pakistan

Kite festival competitions are held all over Pakistan and awards are distributed among winners.

Photo from north Crete.