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Iranians have looked for opportunities in recent months to display defiance against the rules of the clerical government. In Tuesday night\u2019s annual fire festival, many found a chance.<\/p>\n
Across Iran, thousands of men and women packed the streets as they danced wildly to music and jumped joyfully over large bonfires, according to videos on social media<\/a> and interviews with Iranians. The police said the crowds were so large in Tehran and other cities that traffic came to a standstill for many hours and commuters had difficulty reaching public transportation, according to Iranian news reports.<\/p>\n Dancing, especially for men and women together, is banned in public in Iran and has long been a form of protest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In many places, the gatherings turned political, with crowds chanting, \u201cFreedom, freedom, freedom,\u201d \u201cDeath to the dictator\u201d and \u201cGet lost, clerics,\u201d according to videos<\/a> and interviews with participants. In the city of Rasht in northern Iran, a crowd booed security officers who drove by in motorcycles, videos showed.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Iranians were celebrating the ancient Persian tradition of Chaharshanbeh Suri before the coming new year, Nowruz, which is on the first day of spring. In a ritual on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, people jump over fire to cleanse the spirit from malaise of the old year and take on the glow of the flames in preparation for the new year.<\/p>\n The dancing crowds were another example of how far a large part of Iran\u2019s society, particularly the youth, has moved away from the ruling clerics. \u201cThe people are so happy, God willing the toppling of the Islamic Republic,\u201d a narrator of celebrations in the city of Karaj said in a video published by BBC Persian.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When the revolution toppled the monarchy in 1979, the new clerical rulers declared an Islamic theocracy and for years discouraged and even cracked down on Persian celebrations that predated Islam, including Chaharshanbeh Suri. But Iranians continued to celebrate the ritual, which they consider an inseparable part of Iranian culture.<\/p>\n \u201cThe celebration of Persian holidays and the exhibition of joyous gatherings have become inherently political, which is why we are also seeing antigovernment slogans\u201d said Nahid Siamdoust, an assistant professor in media and Middle East studies at the University of Texas at Austin. \u201cThese festivities unite Iranians across the country and provide an opportunity for people to exhibit a sociality that is at odds with state-imposed culture.\u201d<\/p>\n In some apartment complexes in Tehran and other cities, DJs played Persian pop songs as a packed crowd danced and sang along, according to videos on social media and BBC Persian.<\/a> In other places, parked cars blasted music from speakers in an open trunk. Young women, their hair flowing in defiance of the mandatory hijab law, danced on top of cars and in groups.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n People circled the bonfire and held hands while singing \u201cFor Women, for Life, for Freedom\u201d from the lyrics of \u201cBaraye,\u201d an anthem of the female-led uprising in 2022, videos on BBC Persian showed.<\/a> The singer and songwriter Shervin Hajipour won a Grammy Award<\/a> last year for the song. This month, Iran sentenced Mr. Hajipour to prison. Singing his song on Tuesday was a way to show solidarity, said Narges, a 35-year-old in Tehran who asked that her surname not be used for fear of retribution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There were reports on social media of sporadic clashes between the crowds and security forces. One video showed<\/a> forces dispersing the crowds in the neighborhood of Narmak in Tehran by smashing the windows of a cafe where people had gathered to dance.<\/p>\n Every year, the celebrations lead to casualties because of unsafe handling of homemade explosives and fireworks. Iran\u2019s Emergency Center said at least 14 people were killed and nearly 1,800 suffered injuries from burns, according to official media reports.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n