As the celestial bull tosses the spinning earth from one of its horns to the other at the moment of the vernal (spring) equinox (this year at 18.26 GMT on 20 March), the Nowruz orange, so still in a bowl of clear water, wobbles. The new year has begun and we will find Spring and all its promises. Enjoy more images of Nowruz, the Zoroastrian and Persian New Year on my flickr set of Nowruz photographs and take away a flavour of how it is celebrated.
Oranges I remember so well when I was in Seville, streets lined with the fresh plump fruit, the air scented with lilac blossoms and the overhanging canopy in the great park. Neroli oil sprayed onto the cobbled streets behind the Bullfighters Amphitheater. The Romans have not died. Nero and Martial would have adored the old Olympic village, now a civitas of clubs.
I particularly like the texture and feel of a petrified orange, a beautiful burnished carcass full of memories. Like sea salt brought to the upper regions of a mountain, an orange can only mean happiness.
That is a beautiful description and so evocative of the Roman civilisation - urban civilisation - we admire.