By: Hamid Taghavi

(The following article was presented as part of a cable TV documentary broadcast in California.)

Nowruz is the Iranian celebration of the arrival of the new year. It's a massive 13-day festival of colors, foods, parties and rituals, which all Iranians celebrate. Its origin is attributed to the ancient Persian King, Fereidun. According to Ferdusi's epic book "Shahnameh" (The Book Of Kings) which recounts a mostly mythical history of the ancient world, Fereidun triumphed over the forces of darkness and destroyed a cruel and evil emperor called Zahak. Zahak had ruled over Iran for 1000 years. The salvation then launched the ancient Iran into its most glorious period. The message of Nowruz has changed little through thousands of years, many of those years turbulent and dreadful. It is a big part of the Iranian identity, one which has helped keep a country of many different people together. It has helped Iranians carry their identity though some of their gloomiest and most difficult moments.

A short explanation of the Iranian calendar is in order. The Iranian calendar is solar based, unlike the Islamic calendar, which is lunar. It begins at the spring equinox, on 20th or 21st of March when day and night are equal in length. The Iranian year lasts 365.25 days. The official Iranian, Afghani, and Tajik calendars come from Zoroastrian origins.

It's known that a solar year is approximately 365 days, 5 hours, and 48 minutes. The precise time of each equinox can be computed and is done so and published by some world observatories. When the beginning of the year is considered from the precise start of the vernal equinox, the need to have a leap year goes away: In other calendars a year is considered 365 days only. The extra 5.5 hours are truncated away. But that means every four years the Earth is one day behind where it started 4 years ago. In most calendars, an extra day is added to make up for discrepancy. The ancient Zoroastrians did not have a leap year since they started the year on the precise time of equinox.

Starting a month before the new year households begin spring-cleaning. Rugs are washed. Floors swept. Windows are cleaned. Treated like a human body, the whole house is thoroughly cleaned from top to bottom, the cellar as well as the attic, and everything in it: kitchenware, beddings, house wares, and clothes. As nature is about to rejuvenate, the house is symbolically cleansed and purified as well.

About two weeks before the new year a plate of grains such as wheat, barley or lentils is sprouted as omens of a good harvest ahead, as well as tokens of fruitfulness in one's life. In ancient Iran, kings would erect in their courtyards twelve pillars made of mud-bricks. In pot placed on each one, they would grow the seeds of twelve grains. On Nowruz, the grain that had grown the most would be declared the crop of the year to be farmed by the people. Each household copied that ritual on a smaller scale

Two end of the year celebrations bring the year to a symbolic close, Ember Wednesday (chahar-shanbeh-souri) and the day of the reckoning (rouz-e barat).

At sunset, on the evening of the last Tuesday of the year, a bonfire of tumble weed and dry plants is lit up. People of all ages jump over the fire, chanting "may my yellow be yours, and your red be mine". The red flames symbolize the Sun. By challenging the setting sun to shine more vigorously they urge it to push off the dark and cold winter. The yellow symbolizes the lackluster of winter, and by giving up one's yellow to the fire one symbolizes getting rid of darkness and illness. After the fires turn to ashes, clay dishes filled with water are thrown from rooftops while the thrower shouts "pain and unhappiness! Pain and unhappiness" (dard-o-bala), and in doing so, they symbolize driving ill omen from one's house and life.

It should be noted that in ancient Iran every day started at the sunset of the previous day (as opposed to at midnight as it is done today). Therefore, a Wednesday started at the sunset of a Tuesday.

On the same day people try to forecast the future by reading omens in different ways. Those needing or wishing something hide behind walls and doors eavesdropping on conversations between strangers. They interpret the words they hear as forecast of the future. Another symbolic custom, which is similar to Halloween, is for women and children to disguise and hide their faces and go out at twilight. They carry an empty pot and bang on it with a spoon and knock on doors. Their disguise is an attempt to make them look like a demon. Unlike Halloween, they must remain silent. The residents will then give the ghostly drummer token gifts to ward off misfortune.

The last Thursday of the year is considered the day of the dead or the day of "reckoning". On this day gifts and charity are distributed to the poor at the cemetery. It includes food, money, halva which is an Iranian delicacy, or even new clothes just so that the poor and unfortunate can celebrate the new year just as the rich can.

The new year is symbolized by a character known as "amoo Nowruz", or "Uncle New Year". A man colors his face black and wears a clownish red outfit. He goes around dancing and singing happy songs and beating on a tambourine. At his arrival, people chant: "Amoo Nowruz has arrived, Joyous and victorious he has arrived." People make donations to Amoo Nowruz for good luck.

An essential part of Nowruz is the setting of the Haft Seens. On a Nowruz cloth spread in front of a mirror lit by many candles (as many as the members of the household) there will be many items, including 7 or more items that start with the letter S (or seen in Farsi). The setting is called "sofreyeh haft seen", or "the 7-S setting". The significance of S is partly because it's the first letter of two colors in Farsi, green and white, green representing springtime renewal and white representing purity to drive away demons. The 7-S items include a plate of coins (sekeh), a plate of grain sprouting, hyacinth (sonbol), apples (seeb), sumac, garlic (seer), samanu, vinegar (serkeh), and sorb (an ancient fruit). Other items can be bowl of milk, a bowl of yogurt, other flowers such as tulips, oranges floating in water, bread, sugar cone, grains, fresh vegetables, painted eggs, honey, candy and rice pudding. There is also a fish bowl with goldfish and a copy of the holy book and the picture of a holy man (Zarathustra for Zoroastrians and Emam Ali for Moslems).

The beautifully arranged setting symbolizes light, warmth, life, reproduction, wealth, the message and the messenger, and most of all, nature. Goldfish and eggs are symbols of reproduction and multiplication just as eggs and rabbits are in the West during Easter. Grains, fruits, breads, milk and vegetables and grain sprouts symbolize spring's arrival and its promise of a lush harvest. Candles and mirrors symbolize light and reflection. Coins and jewels symbolize wealth and prosperity. The holy book is a symbol of the message. The 7-S setting will stay around until the last day of the 13-day celebration.

As the last minutes of the old year run out, the whole family gathers around the 7-S setting, all dressed in their best outfits, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the exact start of the new year over radio or tv. Incense is burned. The head of the family recites Nowruz prayers. Some may hold gold objects as a good omen of a golden year. The children are given hardboiled eggs, which have been decorated and wrapped as gifts. Cooked in a brew of onion peel, walnut shells or straws such that they're colored yellow, brown or green, they symbolize virility and fruitfulness. When the time is announced the family members kiss each other on the cheeks and wish them a happy Nowruz. Older members of the household give gifts of money and gold to the younger ones.

For the first 12 days of the new year, people visit each other. They visit friends, family, and neighbors. As a sign of respect, the elders are visited first. Each visit must be reciprocated. The visits may last a short time to be able to visit everyone. Many set their past differences aside and use the opportunity to reconcile in the festive mood of this period. As the year begins again, so should old friendships.

During the visits, it's customary to offer nuts such as roasted pistachios, almonds, walnuts, melon seeds, raisins, and chickpeas (nokhodchi). They're also offered fruits, and pastry with hot tea. There may be many guests in a house at the same time. People will come and go, and they're all welcomed warmly and sincerely. All along, children play carelessly, new clothes and all.

The purpose of the visitations is to bring people closer together, to break ranks and remove inequality. The rich will visit the poor and the elders will visit the young and vice versa. All farms and factories stop working. Everyone wears new clothes. All socials ranks, all age groups, all races enjoy the same foods and recreations. It's a celebration of a more pure time, of a divine time, of a feeling of spiritual equality and fraternity, of days of paradise.

The last day of new year celebration is called Sizdeh beh-dar, or "Thirteenth day outside". On this day, the mount of the demon of cold is driven from the city. Towns and villages turn into ghost towns as everyone leaves them to go picnicking outdoors, and to throw the plates of sprouting into the river in order to give back to nature what nature has given them. Just before that, the elders will examine the sprouting in an attempt to predict the weather for the coming year.

On this day, people will party on grass fields everywhere, play, sing songs, dance traditional and local dances, and feast on noodle soups called "Ashe-reshte" as well as rice based dishes. People walk by streams running with snowmelt. They play sports with balls in a game called vasati, in which the members of a team try to eliminate the opponents by hitting them with a soft ball. They also play "alac dolak", perhaps the ancestor to baseball, in which one tries to hit a small stick as far as they can with a bat. The elders play less active games of chess and backgammon. Everywhere, the people dance and rejoice, and as others go by, they join in the dancing and clapping. As the party progresses, people become friendlier and the partying more intense. Unwed women tie together grass stems singing in a low voice "thirteenth day, next year, at my husband's, with a baby in my arms", in a wish to be married soon. Clowns go around entertaining people. Later in the day, people eat fresh lettuce dipped in light syrup, and boiled fava beans still in their pods. The dancing and feasting will continue into the night.

Nowruz is one of the richest rituals of the world, if the not the richest one. It's full of meaning and symbols. It's a celebration of life and light, nature and soul, hope and happiness. The recurring theme in Nowruz is the battle between the forces of light and dark, the underlying feature of the old Zoroastrian dualism. It's light driving out darkness, spring forcing out winter, and life triumphing over death. During Nowruz, the whole country and indeed all Iranians everywhere indulge in pure joy. They welcome the arrival of a new spring with its vast array of colors. During Nowruz, it is traditional to wish well upon each other by saying "May your Nowruz be triumphant, may your every day be Nowruz!". Happy Nowruz, everybody!