Say Hello to 1386!

Hi buddies,
Yes! Spring has come and brought happiness, prosperity, joy and life with it. Flowers have blossomed and made the nature colorful. People renew their lives as the nature does. They try to change their life into a better one, to throw away their past faults, and to start a new day with hope; hope for new and better achievements.
I always see the cheer and happiness in almost all the faces near Nowrooz in Iran. Some days before the New Year begins, all people clean their houses, buy new things for the New Year, and prepare a special table called “Haft Sin” which is a traditional custom from ancient time. This table contains seven different things which start with S; all of them are a symbol of something in life like happiness, blessing, sweetness, etc.

The “Haft Sin” Table:
“Sabze”–grass-plot,
“Sir”–garlic,
“Somagh”–sumac,
“Serke”–vinegar,
“Sekke”–coin,
“Sa’at”–clock,
“Samanu”–kind of dish with juice of germinating wheat.
Ofcourse they put some other things like colorful eggs and little red fish on this table. They sit around it at the transition to the New Year and pray for themselves and their family and who they know, love, and care for.

Iranians have a holiday of 13 days in the beginning of “Farvardin” –the first month of the solar calendar. They go and visit their relatives, go on trips or anything that people do in their holiday! Then the relatives would repay the visit. This is the most common tradition in Nowrooz holiday and is called “paying and repaying visits”.

The last day of Nowrooz holiday is called “sizdah-be-dar” which is on the 13th of Farvardin. People go out and pass this day in the nature, eat lunch, knot the grasses, place the plate of grass –sabze- in the water, and are happy in order to banish the dark thought from them. They pass this day beside their family merrily.

Obviously, there are many traditions and connotations behind all these customs which are almost forgotten and Iranian do it as remained traditional ethnic mores and as they heard them from their parents and grandparents.
Today is the fourth day of holiday and I try to enjoy it! I hope you enjoy it, too and be happy all the time!
Happy Nowrooz! :)