Winter festival of Iran begins at the winter solstice. Fire festival and water festival follow forty days and twenty days later respectively. After one month does the spring festival come. It is the spring festival that liberates people from fast and leads them to the new order. The clown, appearing at this critical moment, plays the role of helping the transition of the world from the old order to the new and from death to rebirth.
Two major roles of the clown are:
(1) to announce the end of winter and the coming of spring with the drama of death and rebirth (Haji Firuz, Kuseh, etc.).
(2) to take the office of the king temporarily and to re-establish the royalty (Mir-e Nouruzi, etc.).
In addition to the above two, the fact that the clown presented himself at the various time of the year is indicative of the historical shifts of the New Year's Day. Further study in this direction will contribute, it is hoped, to the clarification of the complicated calender system of Iran.
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