Amu Nowruz and Haji Firuz Santa and Black Pete
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Regional History or Period History
Forum Name: Ancient Mesopotamia, Near East and Greater Iran
Forum Discription: Babylon, Egypt, Persia and other civilizations of the Near East from ancient times to 600s AD
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=33735
Printed Date: 17-Apr-2024 at 17:51 Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.56a - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Amu Nowruz and Haji Firuz Santa and Black Pete
Posted By: mojobadshah
Subject: Amu Nowruz and Haji Firuz Santa and Black Pete
Date Posted: 18-May-2013 at 19:09
I've been investigating into Amu Nowruz and Haji Firuz. There's not a lot of published material on these two figures, but their very interesting because they appear to have some distant connection to Santa Claus and Black Pete. Amu Nowruz gives gifts to children on Nowruz and Haji Firuz is a black faced troubadour. Haji Firuz seems to have developed out of the tradition of the "Lord of Misrule" or mock king who was sacrificed at the end of the year in the Sacaea or Persian tradition, known before Muslim times to the Zoroastrians as Miri Nowruz, a proxy for the high god and parallel to Marduk who was said to have been slain by Tiamat "Chaos" and then resurrected symbolizing the resurrection of the agricultural year. Amu Nowruz is much harder to trace. His name is Amu Nowruz "Uncle Nowruz" and therefore appears to have been connected with Nowruz or the ancient New Year which took place in the Spring. What is striking is that like Santa Claus he gives gifts to children on this New Year. The Russsians commemorated the "Grandfathers" in both the Winter and the Spring. On of these grandfathers or ancestors was known as Ded Moroz or "Father Frost." So Amu Nurooz was probably a Fravashi or ancestral spirit like in Russia. But gift giving didn't become a custom of Father Frost until after the Christian era. Nor did it take place among the other pre-Christian Indo-Europeans that have connections to Santa Claus like Woden among the English who seems to have played some part in the development of Santa. For example he had a flying horse, and his helpers peered into chimneys. The post-Christian Saint Nicholas left coins in peoples shoes, but that was about it as far as gift-giving went. Could Amu Norooz have played a part in the creation of the Santa Claus myth?
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Posted By: Cyrus Shahmiri
Date Posted: 19-May-2013 at 03:42
In this thread: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28412 - http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28412 I talked about "Mesopotamian origin of Santa Claus & Zwarte Piet", of course by comparing them to Amu Noruz and Haji Firuz.
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