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Sunday, March 20th marks both the beginning of spring and the Persian New Year known as Nowruz, which translates to “new day”. It is believed that the tradition dates as far back as 15,000 years but the official year indicated by the Persian calendar will be 2576.
On the last Wednesday before the new year, a symbolic ritual called Chaharshanbe Suri occurs. During this ceremony, people jump over a fire and say “zardi-ye man az toh, sorkhi-ye toh az man”. This gesture is said to exchange one’s problems for both health and good luck.
The day before Nowruz a traditional table called a Haft-seen is setup to display various items that begin with the letter ‘s’ in correspondence to the Persian language. These include, but are not limited to, serkah (vinegar), somaq(sumac), sir(garlic), samanu (a sweet paste), sib (apples), senjed (a dried fruit) and sabzeh (sprouts). Each item placed is representative of the righteous aspects of life such as truth, healing, warmth, love, and happiness.
Those who follow the tradition often get together with close friends and family and eat traditional foods on the day of Nowruz. The new year celebration concludes on the 13th day after Nowruz, known as Sizdah Bedar. This day is reserved for spending time outdoors with family and friends. One of the customary objectives for this day is to place the sabzeh sprout from the Haft-Seen table in a body of flowing water. This represents the purification of the soul and the release of any evil spirits.
The New York Persian Parade will be held in April (official date TBD) on Madison Avenue to celebrate not only Nowruz but Persian heritage and culture as well.
-by James Baginski
