Persian New Year Rituals.

This weekend I am decorating my Haft-seen table, this is a special table for Persian New year (Nowruz), the Festival of the beginning of spring.

This table is made up of seven items that start with the letter “S”, haft-seen literally means “seven S’s”

Every item that is placed on the Haft-sin table symbolises something positive for the coming year:

Sumac (crushed spice of berries): For the sunrise

Senjed (sweet dry fruit of the lotus tree): For love and affection

Serkeh (vinegar): For patience and age

Seeb (apples): For beauty

Sir (garlic): For good health

Samanu (wheat pudding): For fertility and the sweetness

Sabzeh (sprouted wheat grass): For rebirth and renewal of nature

Other items are placed on the table including an orange floating in a bowl of water, which is a sign of earth rotating around itself, a mirror that symbolizes sky and self-reflection, eggs symbolizing creation and fertility, coins symbolizing wealth and prosperity and a fishbowl is the sign of the last month of the Persian calendar, and the turning of the goldfish inside the bowl is a sign of turning of the year and a new beginning.

I love this ritual and the beautiful, positive meanings. It reminds me to think about the wonderful things I have and hope for the year to come.

‘Spring and all that flowers, now jealously break their vow of silence. It is time for celebration, not for lying low; You to – weed out those roots of sadness from your heart’ ~ Hafiz