Nowruz 2021: What It Is and How You Can Celebrate

(CNN) – Nowruz is no small celebration for millions of people around the world. Think Christmas, New Year and July 4th combined – and add fire parties, delicious meats, rice and spices, family parties, street dancing and loud pounding on pots.

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

And we could all use some of it, whatever it’s called.

What is it?

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 ring in on Saturday 20 March.

It is no coincidence that it falls on the first day of spring. The Iranian calendar is a solar calendar, meaning that by astronomical observations, time is determined by the movement of the earth around the sun. So the first day of the year always starts with the natural phenomenon of the spring equinox.

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

It’s a month-long celebration, full of parties, crafts, street performances and public rituals.

And yes, a lot of food.

Who is celebrating it?

March 21 was officially recognized as International Nowruz Day by the United Nations in 2010 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 Nowruz celebrations in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on March 21, 2013.

VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO / AFP / Getty Images

But the range is even greater. Worldwide, more than 300 million people celebrate Nowruz – and they have celebrated it for more than 3,000 years – from the Balkans to the Black Sea Basin to Central Asia to the Middle East and elsewhere.

Hundreds of American communities also celebrate Nowruz.

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

How do you celebrate Nowruz?

As with most holidays, Nowruz has its own traditions.

They include the “Haft Sin” table, which contains seven symbolic items starting with the Farsi letter “S.” They include wheatgrass, herbs, dried foods, and vinegar, all of which represent different expectations for the New Year, including health, wealth, and prosperity. For example, ‘Sir’, the word for garlic, stands for protection from disease and harm, while vinegar, or ‘Serkeh’, stands for longevity and patience. The tables also contain mirrors, candles, decorated eggs, water and various fruits.

Many families also place a goldfish on the table for good luck and poetry books or the Quran to symbolize education and enlightenment.

Iranian families are also welcoming the New Year with sparkling houses and new clothes. They visit friends and neighbors and share meals and organize parties. Communities come together to celebrate the beginning of spring and hope that they will always be surrounded by a healthy and clean environment, such as their home.

And the parties don’t stop when people ring in the new year. Thirteen days after Nowruz, families go out and throw the wheatgrass they’ve grown (and used to decorate Haft Sin tables) into running water.

The tradition is maintained on the 13th day after the New Year, a number usually considered unlucky. For year-round happiness, the communities throw away the wheatgrass, which is said to absorb all the negative energy from any home.

Do they really jump fire?

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

Before the spring rolls come in, children run through the streets, loudly banging on pots and knocking on doors, asking for candy or money. It’s a bit 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 my sickly pallor back.! ”

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 wish relief and good luck for the New Year, says the Iran Chamber Society.

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

Get it: tables, fireplaces, parties. Something else?

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

Haji Firooz, the second figure, shows up during the Persian New Year to offer good wishes. He is depicted with a black face.

The character, also known as Haji Firuz, is an African slave serving an Iranian master, a reference to Iran’s long history of slavery, Beeta Baghoolizadeh writes, along with the Ajam Media Collective.

“The nonsensical rhyme and direct reference to his status as a slave confirm his role as a minstrel in Iranian society – a role that, despite the end of slavery in Iran, still continues during the Norooz celebrations,” said Baghoolizadeh. “Haji Firuz is actually from the Afro-Iranian community in the south of Iran.”

And the food?

While leaping fires and thumping noises are tempting, nothing compares to the dishes released during the Iranian New Year. Already famous for its variety of grilled meats and fluffy rice, Persian cuisine leaves the old year behind with feasts of stews, spicy foods and colorful biscuits and cakes.

Herbs are the key. Fish, meat, rice, noodles and beans in various dishes are all laced with fresh mint, tarragon, basil and other green herbs.

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

Yes! And when the countdown starts, hit play on this song, which is traditionally played as communities ring in the new year.

Eide shoma mobarak!

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