The Iranian Student Association (ISA) helped to bring in the Noe-Rooz, the Persian new year, this Saturday with a celebration of Persian culture, music and cuisine.

About 200 people attended the formal event held in HUB Heritage Hall.

Nargess Kaviani, of State College, said the celebration helps bring people together who are separated from their families.

"We usually get together as family," Kaviani said. "Since we don't have family here, we have a party to celebrate."

Kaviani said the Noe-Rooz is celebrated on the first day of spring, usually March 20 or 21.

Kaviani added that the event has grown considerably from its initial 50-person gathering, with more and more people attending every year.

Mark Holbert from Juniata College said he came with a friend and wanted to learn more about Persian culture.

"I was just looking forward to learning about it," Holbert said.

Along with a display of Persian art and texts, a table was set up with several items important to the new year.

Kaviani explained that each object is a symbol of a characteristic. Some of them included senjed, a dried fruit of the jujube tree representing love, and a sonbol, a hyacinth flower for the coming of spring.

The cuisine featured several Persian flavors, such as fesenjan, duck with a walnut sauce; ghormeh sabzi, beef with spinach; and baademjan, lamb in a tomato and eggplant sauce.

Farshid Amin, an Iranian folk band, was also on hand to perform traditional music.

A cultural presentation on Iran was also part of the evening. Iran, the second largest country in the Middle East, is the home of 70 million people and is one of the oldest centers of civilization. The Persian Empire was founded 2,500 years ago by Cyrus the Great.

The presentation also showed other events that are part of Noe-Rooz, like khaaneh tekaani, a cleaning of the home, and seezdah bedar, a day of picnics and fun.

Samira Khalili, a member of the ISA, said the celebration was the most important one of the year for the cultural organization, which is made up of mostly graduates, many of whom had gone to college in Iran.

Khalili said the goal of the organization is to maintain a friendly atmosphere for its members and to help build a connection to the State College community.