Rumi’s introduction to life was not easy. As a teenager, he was forced to leave his home town, Balkh, behind forever. Balkh was a major city in the eastern part of greater Persia, close to the silk road. Rumi’s father, an Islamic jurist, was facing challenges because of his mystical views of Islam. Rumi had to say goodbye to his sister, his beloved teacher, Borhan, leaving his home town at thirteen, joining his parents in a caravan full of his father’s followers, moving into the unknown.

It seems like a good idea to start fresh in the month of March when the Winter comes to an end and Spring begins.

In Persian culture, we celebrate the beginning of Spring as the ‘New Day’ somewhere between 19th and 21st of March. “Nowruz” is the name of the beginning of the new solar year for Persian-speaking cultures...