Chaharshanbe Suri and Sizdah Bedar: the fire and the picnic

Nowruz has an opening and a close. The opening is Chaharshanbe Suri, the evening of the last Wednesday before the new year. The close is Sizdah Bedar, the thirteenth day after it.

Chaharshanbe Suri

On this evening people light small fires in streets and courtyards and jump over them, saying a rhyme in which they ask the fire to take their sickness and weakness and give back warmth and health. The word suri is often linked to the colour red, and the fire stands for light and renewal.

Other customs fill the evening: people bang spoons on bowls and go from door to door, as a kind of trick-or-treat, to receive nuts and sweets. Families serve a mix of nuts and dried fruit called ajil-e moshkel-gosha, “the problem-solving mix”.

Sizdah Bedar

On the thirteenth day of the new year, families leave the house for a picnic in a park, by a river or in the countryside. The point is to spend the day outside, which is said to turn away bad luck associated with the number thirteen. The sabzeh, the sprouted grass from the new year table, is thrown into running water, to carry away the troubles of the year.

It is also a day for games and jokes, including the “lie of the thirteenth”, a harmless prank that people play on each other. Young people may tie blades of grass together as they make a wish.

Together

Both customs are about leaving the home, the first at night around a fire and the second by day in the open. Many Iranians living abroad keep them in parks and community halls, often adapting them to local rules: a small candle in place of a bonfire, a picnic in a Dutch park.