Nowruz: the oldest new year

Nowruz means “new day”. It is the start of the Persian year and is celebrated at the spring equinox, usually on 20 or 21 March. The year turns at the exact astronomical moment of the equinox, which is announced in advance, and families often gather at that moment around a special table.

What people do

In the weeks before, many households do a thorough spring cleaning, called khaneh-tekani, “shaking the house”. On the last Wednesday evening of the old year, people light small fires in the street and jump over them in a custom known as Chaharshanbe Suri.

At the heart of the festival is the haft-sin, a table with seven items whose names start with the Persian letter sin, such as sabzeh (sprouted wheat or lentils), sib (apple), sir (garlic), serkeh (vinegar) and somaq (sumac). Families add a mirror, candles, coloured eggs, a book of poetry and often a bowl with goldfish. The exact items vary from house to house and region to region.

The holiday lasts around two weeks. People visit relatives, give small gifts and eat special food, among them herb rice with fish, sabzi polo ba mahi. On the thirteenth day, Sizdah Bedar, families go outdoors for a picnic, which is considered the end of the festival.

Where it comes from

This is where the picture is less clear. Many people link Nowruz with ancient Iran, and often with Zoroastrian or Achaemenid ceremonies. But the festival is described in detail in the sources of the Sasanian and early Islamic periods, much later than the first Persian empire.

The famous king Jamshid (Jam), in Persian epic tradition, is credited with founding the festival; this is a story from the Shahnameh, not a historical record.

Across languages and borders

Nowruz belongs to many peoples, who each add their own foods, songs and characters. In Iran, for example, a figure called Haji Firuz appears in the street in red clothes, singing and playing a tambourine, to announce the coming year; his role and how he is portrayed are discussed. Persian speakers in the Netherlands and elsewhere also mark Nowruz, often at community gatherings. What the festival says about the people who keep it is above all this: the idea that the year, and life, can start again.