Persian Parade

 The Sun and the Lion is their national Symbol.

It was listed in the paper as the Persian Parade.  Some banners had it as the Iranian parade.  There were also people marching from Kurdistan and Armenia.  Most likely because the Persian Empire at it's height went from the Danube in the East to the Indus in the West and the Caspian Sea in the North to the Persian Gulf in the South.  Many of those people were marching for their homelands.  The state religion at that time was Zoroaster-ism, named for the founder Zoroaster AKA [also known as] Zarathustra.  I saw a number of banners for Zoroaster.  Also banners for Runi - a Persian poet of the 12th century and Mazdak who died around 524.  He was a religious activist who advocated communal sharing and instituted social reforms.  There was a banner wishing everyone a Happy Nowruz [Happy New Year - celebrated since Zoroaster.  It's the first day of Spring].  Another banner celebrating Yalda, the longest night of the year, and the birthday of Mithra, the god of Zoroaster-ism.  It would fall around 12/21 to 12/25. 
The Persian empire was frequently overrun by Greeks, Arabs, Turks and Mongols.  It was united as Iran in 1501 and was ruled by a monarch, the Shah, until the revolution of 1979.  Their were no banners for the Shah nor the Ayatollah.

 Every parade needs a marching band.

But not every parade has whirling dervishes.