Sognsvann is surprising in March

"Your calendar is based on Jesus, ours is based on the sun" said the Iranian guy to me tonight. Despite the darkness of night, and the lack of city lights illuminating Sognsvann at the north-western edge of Oslo, I could see by the bonfire-light that a hip Persian youth was kindly sharing his culture with me. His hair: some kind of rad Eastern mullet style--product-spiked top, shaped sideburns, and a cascade of black to the back.
His heavily accented and broken English conveyed a description of the event I chanced upon tonight, after walking to the frozen lake to wind-down from all-day thesis writing. Under the grove of conifers at the snowy lakeshore, a half-dozen fires crackled, and 100+ people encircled. An amp-ed music system was projecting the soundtrack... unknown language, and melodies for me... but upbeat and vibe-y music. Many danced in a large group, with the core of the people tossing blue-green scarves into the air.
My Iranian informant told me that this was the annual celebration before their calendar new year's day, which happens with the return of Spring's sun, or the Westerner's March 21. Tonight features fires--a holy symbol, he told me, but not religious. They dance around them, and jump over them...for good health, and a positive new year. He excused himself from my company after the brief but generous conversation sharing with me the celebration's cultural meaning. I am certain that regular circumstances will never associate us socially. And I am simply happier for receiving such an unexpected gift of experience tonight.