Nowruz 2024 and Tradition

This is the second time I am writing about Nowruz, the Persian New Year in this blog. This year our gathering was low key because some family members were out of town and others were working. But a whole bunch of us are getting together this Saturday.

The above photo is Haft Seen, made up of seven items that start with the letter S in Farsi. Each item is symbolic of something. The Jujube is for love, Sumac is for sunrise and new beginnings, faux gold coins is for wealth and prosperity, the wheat germ pudding in the small container is for sweetness, the vinegar in the tiny cup is for age and patience, apples are for beauty, and garlic is for health. 

Non-S items are the Mirror for self-reflection, painted eggs for fertility, fish for life, a book of wisdom, and Candle for enlightenment. The writing on the candle says Happy New Year. The flower is a symbol for spring arrival.

My family makes fun of me because many of the items on my Haft Seen are not real such as the flowers, apples, garlic, eggs, and fish. But you see, they go bad by the day 13. Imagine eating cooked eggs that’s been sitting out for 13 days. Or forgetting to change the water on the flowers. And red apples are not my favorite type of apples to eat. As for the fish, Iranians put gold fish in a small glass jar as it goes round and round. This is completely inhumane and I refuse to do it. I’m missing Sabzeh, for rebirth and renewal, because I have misplaced mine. It looked like the one in the above photo. The real ones, made from sprouted wheat or barley, are finicky, and you have to know how to keep them fresh, or they don’t make it to the 13th day because they rot.

For my book of Wisdom, I chose Rumi. Some people skip this, some use the Quran (although this celebration is not connected to Islam), and some chose books by other poets. So, tradition has it that you put money inside various pages of your book, and you offer your guests to pull out one. Out here in the U.S, people use brand new $2 dollar bills, because they are rare. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any and used $5 bills. My brother complained because they were not new. The money is not for spending. You are to keep it for good luck, but I think nowadays people forget, stick it in their wallet and spend it when they need change.

Anyway, this year was the first year I celebrated Nowruz at my house. Nowruz Mobarak on the icecream cake means Happy New Year. This was my mom’s favorite holiday, and I think my dad liked it too. So, Nowruz is not like the New Year out here where it happens when the clock strikes midnight. Persian New Year happens when spring happens. So, it could land on March 19, 20, 21 or 22 depending on the vernal equinox. Also, it occurs at various hours such as 2, 3, 4 a.m. or other times. When we were little, my dad used to wake us up and make us sit by the Haft Seen as we watched the celebration on T.V. Sometimes we were lucky and new year started in the afternoon or evening.

Upon the arrival of new year, we had 13 days to go visit friends and family members to wish them happy new year. My dad used to make us do it all on the first day as we went from house to house. It is expected for younger people to visit older people or call them to wish them happy new Year. Older people buy younger people gifts or give them gold coins or money. Younger people do not give gifts to older ones. Nowadays, people don’t give gifts as much because of financial reasons.

So, my brother and Ellie came over to my place for dinner. My sister-in-law and my younger niece were out of town. I had a bunch of appetizers out. The above picture is a vegetarian salad olivieh, Persian potato salad. It tastes different than the American potato salad, but it’s really yum. The non-vegetarian has chicken in it.

Iranians are tea drinkers. So, you can’t just have wine or beer to serve with appetizers. You also need to make tea. And you don’t toss in a tea bag to give to your guest. The tea should be brewed and offered with something sweet, because some of the guests expect it. The sweets in the above picture are Persian baklava made with almonds and cardamom, chickpea cookies, and chocolate wafers.

Persian food takes a lot of time to prepare, and so, I don’t make it that often, or I just do a condensed version. But this time I cooked the long version. The above picture is of foods people typically eat during Nowruz – sabzi polo aka herb rice, tahdig, the bottom of rice made of crispy rice, lavash or potato, sauteed floured fish basted with eggs and saffron, Koo koo sabzi made with eggs, herbs, walnuts and barberries, yogurt with shallot, and a Persian salad with olive oil and lemon juice dressing. My tahdig didn’t come out all that great, but the rest came out pretty good. The popular drink in the bottle is dough made with yogurt, soda, and mint. Sorry about the meh food photography. My brother was hungry, dug in right away, and messed up my table setting before I could take a picture. And my niece carries her vape with her everywhere and sits in weird positions at the table. But that’s the whole point about close family – to be comfortable doing whatever around each other. We had a nice time, listened to music, and chatted.