Nowruz 2021: What it is and how you can celebrate

(CNN) – For millions of people around the world, Nowruz is no small celebration. Think of Christmas, the New Year and the Fourth of July combined – and add to that festivities from the fire, delicious meats, rice and spices, family reunions, street dancing and tapping into pots.

But it is also much more than that. Nowruz “promotes values of peace and solidarity between generations and within families”, says the United Nations. It is a time of reconciliation and neighborhood, “contributing to cultural diversity and friendship between peoples and different communities”.

And we could all use some of it, no matter what it is called.

What is that?

Nowruz is the Persian new year. But you don’t have to be Persian to celebrate. Also known as Nauryz, Navruz or Nowrouz, it means “new day”. The new year will begin on Saturday, March 20.

It is not by chance that it falls on the first day of spring. The Iranian calendar is a solar calendar, which means that time is determined, through astronomical observations, by the movement of the Earth around the sun. Therefore, the first day of the year always begins with the natural phenomenon of the vernal equinox.

It is not a religious holiday, but a universal celebration of new beginnings: wishing for prosperity and welcoming the future while undoing the past. That is why families use this time to thoroughly clean their homes and closets and buy clean clothes.

It is a month-long celebration, filled with parties, crafts, street performances and public rituals.

And yes, a lot of food.

Who celebrates it?

March 21 was officially recognized in 2010 as International Nowruz Day by the United Nations, at the request of countries such as Afghanistan, Albania, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

Kyrgyz youth participate in the traditional game ‘Kyz Kumay’ (‘Kiss a girl’) during the celebrations of Nowruz in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on March 21, 2013.

VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO / AFP / Getty Images

But its reach is even greater. More than 300 million people worldwide celebrate Nowruz – and have celebrated it for over 3,000 years – from the Balkans to the Black Sea Basin, from Central Asia to the Middle East and elsewhere.

Hundreds of American communities also celebrate Nowruz.

Los Angeles, home to one of the largest Persian populations outside Iran, is proud to host the country’s largest Nowruz festival, with festivities that last a full day for visitors of all ages. You can also find a celebration of Nowruz in almost every state in the country. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festivities will understandably be silenced this year.

How do you celebrate Nowruz?

As with most holidays, Nowruz comes with its own set of traditions.

They include the “Haft Sin” table, which includes seven symbolic items starting with the Farsi letter “S”. They include wheatgrass, herbs, dry food and vinegar, all representing various hopes for the new year, including health, wealth and prosperity. For example, “Sir”, the word for garlic, represents protection from disease and ills, while vinegar, or “Serkeh”, represents longevity and patience. The tables also include mirrors, candles, decorated eggs, water and various fruits.

Many families also place a goldfish on the table for luck and books of poetry or the Qur’an to symbolize education and enlightenment.

Iranian families also welcome the new year with bright houses and new clothes. They visit friends and neighbors and share meals and parties. Communities come together to celebrate the beginning of spring and do so in the hope of always being surrounded by a healthy and clean environment, like their home.

And the celebrations don’t end when people play in the new year. Thirteen days after Nowruz, the families leave the house and throw the wheat grass they are growing into the running waters (and use it to decorate the tables of Haft Sin).

The tradition is maintained on the 13th day after the new year, a number generally considered unlucky. To ensure good luck during the year, the communities throw away the wheat grass, which supposedly absorbs all the negative energy from each house.

Do they really jump over fires?

Yea! The activity is one of the two main traditions that mark the last days of last year.

Before the arrival of spring, children run through the streets pounding pots and knocking on doors, asking for sweets or money. It’s like Halloween.

On the last Wednesday of the year, Chaharshanbe Soori (or “Red Wednesday”), crowds gather in public places and jump over bonfires, singing traditional songs and repeating the phrase: “Give me your beautiful red color and take off my pallor sick! ”

Iranian families light fire outside their homes in Tehran on March 13, 2018 during Chaharshanbe Soori.

ATTA KENARE / AFP / Getty Images

The fire serves as a symbol of light and good, while families want enlightenment and happiness for the new year, says the Iranian Chamber Society.

Nowruz also has its origins in the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism, in which fire was the central focus. Light and fire in religion were “essential elements for sustaining life”, according to the Heritage Institute.

Got it: tables, bonfires, parties. Anything else?

Iranians also have their version of Santa Claus – Amoo Nowruz, or Uncle Nowruz – and a cheerful little jester who works for him.

Haji Firooz, the second figure, appears during the Persian New Year to bring good luck. He is depicted with a black face.

Also known as Haji Firuz, the character is an African slave who serves an Iranian master, a reference to Iran’s long history of slavery, writes Beeta Baghoolizadeh of the Ajam Media Collective.

“The absurd rhyme and the direct reference to his status as a slave reaffirm his role as minstrel in Iranian society – a role that, despite the end of slavery in Iran, still persists in Norooz celebrations today,” said Baghoolizadeh. “Haji Firuz, in fact, comes from the Afro-Iranian community in southern Iran.”

It’s the food?

While jumping over campfires and hitting pots sounds tempting, nothing compares to dishes brought in during the Iranian New Year. Persian cuisine, already famous for its variety of grilled meats and fluffy rice, leaves the old year behind with parties of stews, spicy foods and colorful cookies and pastries.

Herbs are essential. Fish, meat, rice, pasta and beans in various dishes are all seasoned with fresh mint, tarragon, basil and other green herbs.

Nowruz’s main dish is Sabzi Polo Mahi: fried fish alongside rice stuffed with green herbs. Another, Dolmeh Barg, includes cooked meat and rice stuffed into grape leaves. And Fesenjan, one of Iran’s most famous stews, offers meat, usually chicken and sometimes duck, with pomegranate and nut sauce.

The list goes on and on. The most important thing about Nowruz’s food is that it is shared by family, friends and neighbors.

So, am I ready?

Yea! And when the final countdown begins, tap play on this song, which traditionally plays while communities play in the new year.

Eide shoma mobarak!

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