Ayatollah Khazali, a former member of the powerful Guardians Council and the Experts Assembly for Leadership (Majles Khobregan Rahbari) who has turned 82, once again has proposed that the celebration of Ghadir (Shiites commemorate these festivities as the day prophet Mohammad is recorded to have named disciple Ali to be his successor) should replace the traditional Iranian celebration of Nowruz, the new year according to the Iranian calendar that begins every March 21st. This proposal has been made previously too by conservatists but rejected because of public protests.

Khazali who is a presiding member of the Gadir International Fund said this during its fifth seminar. “We must all strive to make Gadir become our biggest annual celebration instead of Nowruz,” he said. In the past, the cleric had asked the public to exercise the same rituals that they do during Nowruz holidays on Gadir day that is celebrated as a holiday, which include activities such as completely cleaning one’s house, giving presents, buying new clothes, and giving money to children.

There have also been proposals by some to shorten the official Nowruz holidays in Iran. Just this June the social council of the ministry of the interior proposed to reduce the number of Nowruz holidays; something that was met with opposition by the media and specialists. Even some conservatists however fear that such a move will strengthen the public fears that the religious quarters in Iran are trying to erode the institutions and celebrations that belong to Iranian culture and constitute the Iranian (pre-Islamic) identity. According to the proposal, official Nowruz holidays would be limited to 6 days, vs. the current 13, thus negating the Sizdeh Bedar holiday which falls on the thirteenth day of Nowruz. And which is widely celebrated in Iran. President Ahmadinejad has opposed the plan, calling for more specialized investigation on reducing the total number of official state holidays.

The timing of this new drive is ironic because the government has been trying to emphasize traditional unifying institutions and symbols recently as a measure to create solidarity and support at a time when the country growingly faces an international threat, making nationalistic gestures a top priority.