Prepping for Nowruz (Persian New Year)!
So some of my friends already know that I originally had the crazy idea of having our wedding on New Year's Eve - a black, white, & gold mega bash to ring in our lives together. But considering that the weather was unpredictable and most of Stephen's friends are musicians who perform out that night, I'm glad he talked some sense into me and we made a compromise. I will still get my New Year's Eve wedding; it will just be Persian New Year instead!
I've only been celebrating Nowruz for about 8-9 years now. As I've explained in previous posts, I didn't have any of the Persian influence in my life growing up raised here in San Diego with my Hawaiian/Italian mom and her family. But my mom did always raise me with an appreciation for other cultures, despite her own mother's fears in regards to Iran and the worries my father's family would take me away. So it took a few years after my grandmother's death in 2002 for me to feel comfortable with embracing that other side of my culture that I knew so little about.
I think Nowruz became more of a yearly tradition for me after I became friends with a couple of guys from Kazakhstan. I didn't have any local Persian friends or anyone I could really relate to, but these fellows gave me a new sense of history and culture about a part of the world I knew so little about. See, Nowruz has been celebrated for over 3,000 years by the people in the former Persian Empire area and Central Asia, predating Christianity and Islam, to back when Zoroastrianism was the religion of the region. People of multiple ethnicities and faiths still celebrate today and the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and families gather together to observe the rituals. This year, the exact time is 9:30pm on Saturday, March 19, so as we're wrapping up our wedding we'll be ringing in the new year!
Something I loved about a Nowruz wedding was there are a lot of parallels with a Persian wedding ceremony as well. I will cover the wedding details in another post, but really both Nowruz and the wedding ceremony involve a lot of symbolism and beauty in regards to a new beginning, light, and well-being. There are many variations on the celebrations based on the various countries that observe Nowruz, and some can be quite elaborate, but I will just talk about the elements that I have learned from Persian culture that I have personally embraced.
First to be done is a major spring cleaning! Before the new year comes along, the house must be scrubbed top to bottom. I have this planned, of course, but considering my living room currently is a warehouse for all my wedding decorations, it will be a challenge! Rain or shine we will get this place shining though by Tuesday, 3/15, and do a mini-observance of a tradition called Chahārshanbe Suri, which is an interesting Zoroastrian ritual to represent light winning over dark. People usually make bonfires in the streets and jump over them, singing "zardi-ye man az toh, sorkhi-ye toh az man". The literal translation is "my yellow is yours, your red is mine." This is a purification rite, meaning you want the fire to take your pallor, sickness, and problems and in turn give you redness, warmth, and energy. With the amount of problems I've had this past year with my health etc, I'd need a volcano to purify me! But I'll probably settle for a candle to jump over in back of my condo just to get into the spirit of things.
Another element that is important to celebrating the new year is of course family and friends. Everyone usually decks out in some new clothes and visits each other over a 12 day period. The first day of Nowruz, which I guess will be 3/20, Sunday the day after my wedding, families gather together in their new clothes and exchange gifts. A lot of people believe that however you are spending Nowruz will mark the outlook for the rest of the year. So you want to pack in as much love, joy, & happiness as possible! Which is why I'm glad we're inviting all our out of town guests and close friends (wedding party & helpers) to our home to keep the good vibes flowing!
One of the key elements of decor for Nowruz is a table that is set up with symbolic items called the Haft Seen. As the years have gone by I've been collecting different items to use for my Haft Seen, and one of the best things about it is a lot of the items can also be used for the Sofreyeh Aghd, which is the table that is used for our wedding ceremony. For the most part though, my Haft Seen displays have been pretty simple so there are a few items this year that I have purchased that are more fancy and wedding appropriate, that we can keep to use every year going forward in our Haft Seen together as man and wife.
Haft Seen literally means "Seven S's," and each of the items that go on the table have some kind of meaning. The article for Nowruz on Wikipedia actually breaks down the items quite nicely, and I'm not ashamed to admit that bits and pieces of what I've learned about Nowruz and incorporated into my celebrations have come from this article, as well as other research. I scrape by the best I can ;)
One thing I won't have time to do this year for the day of Nowruz is all the cooking though. Last year, I went all out and prepared an elaborate feast, which took me around 3 days to prepare. Traditionally, there are a few dishes like rice mixed with noodles or a soup with noodles, and the noodles are supposed to represent the twists and turns in life and multiple possibilities. Untangling the noodles is supposed to bring good luck. Also, a common theme is a lot of herbs, green herbs, like chives, dill, coriander, parsley, and fenugreek - to represent the greenness of spring. Last year, I had my rice with noodles and rice with green herbs, a long with about 4 different kinds of stews, lamb & beef kebab, cucumber salad, yogurt dips, and egg souffle. This year... we'll see if I can get something from a restaurant or just make-do with whatever non-Persian foodstuffs we can scrounge together in the limited time we have. Most important thing is to be around people we care about with positive energy all around.
I've only been celebrating Nowruz for about 8-9 years now. As I've explained in previous posts, I didn't have any of the Persian influence in my life growing up raised here in San Diego with my Hawaiian/Italian mom and her family. But my mom did always raise me with an appreciation for other cultures, despite her own mother's fears in regards to Iran and the worries my father's family would take me away. So it took a few years after my grandmother's death in 2002 for me to feel comfortable with embracing that other side of my culture that I knew so little about.
I think Nowruz became more of a yearly tradition for me after I became friends with a couple of guys from Kazakhstan. I didn't have any local Persian friends or anyone I could really relate to, but these fellows gave me a new sense of history and culture about a part of the world I knew so little about. See, Nowruz has been celebrated for over 3,000 years by the people in the former Persian Empire area and Central Asia, predating Christianity and Islam, to back when Zoroastrianism was the religion of the region. People of multiple ethnicities and faiths still celebrate today and the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day is calculated exactly every year and families gather together to observe the rituals. This year, the exact time is 9:30pm on Saturday, March 19, so as we're wrapping up our wedding we'll be ringing in the new year!
Something I loved about a Nowruz wedding was there are a lot of parallels with a Persian wedding ceremony as well. I will cover the wedding details in another post, but really both Nowruz and the wedding ceremony involve a lot of symbolism and beauty in regards to a new beginning, light, and well-being. There are many variations on the celebrations based on the various countries that observe Nowruz, and some can be quite elaborate, but I will just talk about the elements that I have learned from Persian culture that I have personally embraced.
First to be done is a major spring cleaning! Before the new year comes along, the house must be scrubbed top to bottom. I have this planned, of course, but considering my living room currently is a warehouse for all my wedding decorations, it will be a challenge! Rain or shine we will get this place shining though by Tuesday, 3/15, and do a mini-observance of a tradition called Chahārshanbe Suri, which is an interesting Zoroastrian ritual to represent light winning over dark. People usually make bonfires in the streets and jump over them, singing "zardi-ye man az toh, sorkhi-ye toh az man". The literal translation is "my yellow is yours, your red is mine." This is a purification rite, meaning you want the fire to take your pallor, sickness, and problems and in turn give you redness, warmth, and energy. With the amount of problems I've had this past year with my health etc, I'd need a volcano to purify me! But I'll probably settle for a candle to jump over in back of my condo just to get into the spirit of things.
Another element that is important to celebrating the new year is of course family and friends. Everyone usually decks out in some new clothes and visits each other over a 12 day period. The first day of Nowruz, which I guess will be 3/20, Sunday the day after my wedding, families gather together in their new clothes and exchange gifts. A lot of people believe that however you are spending Nowruz will mark the outlook for the rest of the year. So you want to pack in as much love, joy, & happiness as possible! Which is why I'm glad we're inviting all our out of town guests and close friends (wedding party & helpers) to our home to keep the good vibes flowing!
One of the key elements of decor for Nowruz is a table that is set up with symbolic items called the Haft Seen. As the years have gone by I've been collecting different items to use for my Haft Seen, and one of the best things about it is a lot of the items can also be used for the Sofreyeh Aghd, which is the table that is used for our wedding ceremony. For the most part though, my Haft Seen displays have been pretty simple so there are a few items this year that I have purchased that are more fancy and wedding appropriate, that we can keep to use every year going forward in our Haft Seen together as man and wife.
Haft Seen literally means "Seven S's," and each of the items that go on the table have some kind of meaning. The article for Nowruz on Wikipedia actually breaks down the items quite nicely, and I'm not ashamed to admit that bits and pieces of what I've learned about Nowruz and incorporated into my celebrations have come from this article, as well as other research. I scrape by the best I can ;)
The Haft Sīn items are:
- Sabzeh – wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish – symbolizing green environment, happiness and rebirth.
- Samanu – a sweet pudding made from germinated wheat – symbolizing affluence.
- Senjed – the dried fruit of the oleaster tree – symbolizing firmness and tolerance.
- Sīr – garlic – symbolizing health.
- Sīb – apples – symbolizing beauty and love.
- Somaq – sumac berries –symbolizing patience.
- Serkeh – vinegar – symbolizing development and evolution.
- Other symbolic items can be :
- Sekkeh – Coins – representing wealth
- Lit candles – enlightenment and sunrise.
- a Mirror – symbolizing cleanliness and honesty
- Decorated eggs, sometimes one for each member of the family – fertility
- A bowl of water with goldfish – life within life, and the sign of Pisces which the sun is leaving. As an essential object of the Nowruz table, this goldfish is also "very ancient and meaningful" and with Zoroastrian connection.[96]
- Rosewater – purity and cleanness.
- The national colours – for a patriotic touch
- A holy book (e.g., the Avesta, Qur'an,or Kitáb-i-Aqdas) and/or a poetry book (almost always either the Shahnameh or the Divan of Hafiz)
- B – The second groups of items on the table are for offering to guests to eat and may include:
- Samanu – a sweet pudding made from germinated wheat – symbolizing affluence
 |
| No goldfish needed - my cat is always happy to represent "life" on my haft seen |
So for my wedding, I have most of these items ready to go, as well as a lovely new set of candelabra and a beautiful decorative mirror. A lot of the same symbolisms are present, but I will go over some of the subtle differences for the wedding ceremony table in another post.
One thing I won't have time to do this year for the day of Nowruz is all the cooking though. Last year, I went all out and prepared an elaborate feast, which took me around 3 days to prepare. Traditionally, there are a few dishes like rice mixed with noodles or a soup with noodles, and the noodles are supposed to represent the twists and turns in life and multiple possibilities. Untangling the noodles is supposed to bring good luck. Also, a common theme is a lot of herbs, green herbs, like chives, dill, coriander, parsley, and fenugreek - to represent the greenness of spring. Last year, I had my rice with noodles and rice with green herbs, a long with about 4 different kinds of stews, lamb & beef kebab, cucumber salad, yogurt dips, and egg souffle. This year... we'll see if I can get something from a restaurant or just make-do with whatever non-Persian foodstuffs we can scrounge together in the limited time we have. Most important thing is to be around people we care about with positive energy all around.
So in the next few days, I'll be scrambling to get together all my last minute wedding/Nowruz shopping done, but I'll try to post about the Sofreyeh Aghd before the wedding so those who are attending will have a little insight as to what is going on! (Actually, this will be a guide for MYSELF since I have no clue what I'm doing; I've never seen or been to a Persian wedding in my life!) I'll say it again - its never too late to embrace your roots and diversity! :)
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