Message from Ms. Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the Occasion of the International Day of Nowruz

联合国教科文组织总干事奥德蕾·阿祖莱国际诺鲁孜节致辞

For a large part of humanity, the first day of spring also marks the beginning of a new year. Today, not only in many countries in Asia and the Caucasus, but also all around the world, millions of families are celebrating Nowruz, continuing a tradition that dates back thousands of years.

春季第一天，对世界上许多民族来说标志着新一年的到来。今天，不仅在亚洲和高加索地区许多国家，在世界各地许多地方，有数百万家庭沿袭着几千年的传统，在庆祝诺鲁孜节。

Since it signifies a new beginning, Nowruz is also a festival that is filled with hope, as expressed in the gentle and elegant words of the Persian poet Hafez: "Springtime is here again/With the charm of roses. /Look at their fresh cheeks/And the bitter plant of sadness /Will be uprooted from your heart". The fires that are lit at Nowruz in the Iranian countryside, on the northern plains of Iraq and on the beaches of Los Angeles burn up the bad luck and suffering of the previous year and carry the promise of future joy and a more peaceful world.

诺鲁孜节象征着新的开始，因此也是充满希望的节日，正如波斯诗人哈菲兹用他柔和优雅的诗句所表达的：“春天又回来了/带着玫瑰的芬芳/看那鲜艳绽放的笑靥/悲伤的苦草/将被连根拔掉。”无论在伊朗的乡间、在伊拉克北部平原还是在洛杉矶的海滩，庆祝诺鲁孜节的篝火熊熊燃烧，告别过去一年的不幸与痛苦，预示未来的欢乐与和平的世界。

UNESCO gladly joins this promise and these festivities. Nowruz celebrations take different forms depending on the region of the world you are lucky enough to attend them in, making them a perfect demonstration of the diversity and inventiveness of human cultures. In this respect, they remind us that our common heritage, whose preservation and dissemination is UNESCO's mission, does not only concern monuments, objects and landscapes, but also practices, beliefs, knowledge and traditions, an intangible heritage which is just as precious and sometimes more fragile, since it relies solely on memory and transmission.

教科文组织满怀喜悦地跟大家一起祈愿并欢庆这一节日。诺鲁孜节的庆祝活动以各种形式展现，在世界不同地区会体验到不同的节庆风俗，它是人类文化高度多样性和创造性的见证。这些形式多样的节庆活动也因此提醒着我们，作为教科文组织使命所在的保护和传播我们的共同遗产，不仅涉及到古迹、文物和景观，也涉及到习俗、信仰、知识和传统，这是些同样珍贵但有时却更加脆弱的非物质遗产，因为记忆和传承是它们唯一的依靠。

Happy Nowruz to everyone!

祝大家诺鲁孜节快乐！