Culture

Nowruz: New Year, Spring Festival and National Holiday

In Persian and Central Asian cultures, Nowruz has the same significance as Christmas in Europe, Thanksgiving in the USA or the New Year in China. The celebration is preceded by days of preparation.
Image of the day: Nowruz celebration minus the festivities

Persian New Year is usually the time when family and friends come together to welcome the spring. In other years the streets would be full of people celebrating. Many Iranians have modified their celebrations in response to the corona crisis.
Saudi Arabia's Flower Men

The "Flower Men" – descendants of the ancient Tihama and Asir tribes – live a near autonomous existence in the foothills of the Halaba mountains that straddle the Saudi Arabian-Yemeni border. Their lives are ordered according to the dictates of tribal law. By Eric Lafforgue
The Cultural and Literary Scene in Morocco

From the Caravan of Books to the Literary Café

Morocco has not bothered to wait for the Arab Spring to revolutionise its cultural scene. It took off in the 1990s and is showing no sign of stopping – Moroccan artists exhibit in beauty salons, tennis clubs become impromptu literary cafés and a hotel sponsors the country's most prestigious literature prize. By Regina Keil-Sagawe
The Jump Cut Film Collective

A Spirit of Confidence in Kabul's Film Scene

Afghanistan is often regarded by those in the West as a cultural wasteland. Yet, there has been a growing spirit of confidence among cineastes in the Hindu Kush. The most recent example is the Jump Cut Film Collective. Martin Gerner reports from Kabul