What is Nowruz?

Nowruz is the Persian New Year. Our beloved Ms. Gitti went over the basics with our Busy Bees and Love Bugs this morning! It is all about new beginnings. It's a time of reconciliation and neighborliness, "contributing to cultural diversity and friendship among peoples and different communities."

Nowruz marks the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one, and it occurs on the day of the vernal equinox.

It occurs on March 20th this year coinciding with the arrival of Spring!

People start getting ready for Nowruz about three weeks before the actual vernal equinox. Pretty much everyone goes into serious spring-cleaning mode, ridding their homes of any unnecessary clutter and lingering grime that’s settled in over the past year so they can start fresh.

In these same weeks leading up to the actual day, families also set aside a space for a “haft-seen,” or a collection of items that symbolize a different hope for the new year. While some families add their own variations to the haft-seen (more on those in a bit), there are seven things that are always included:

• Sabzeh: Some kind of sprout or grass that will continue to grow in the weeks leading up to the holiday, for rebirth and renewal

• Senjed: Dried fruit, ideally a sweet fruit from a lotus tree, for love

• Sib: Apples, for beauty and health

• Seer: Garlic, for medicine and taking care of oneself

• Samanu: A sweet pudding, for wealth and fertility

• Serkeh: Vinegar, for the patience and wisdom that comes with aging

• Sumac: A Persian spice made from crushed sour red berries, for the sunrise of a new day

Today, our preschoolers got to do one of the most important parts of the celebration! Ms. Gitti presented all of us with two bowls.

We took a handful of lentils from one, make a wish for the new year, and place it in the other bowl. These lentils will sprout and be a part of the celebration! Thirteen days after Nowruz, families head outdoors and throw the lentil sprouts they've been growing (and using to decorate Haft Sin tables) into flowing waters.

Do you celebrate Nowruz? What kind of traditions does your family have?

We wish you well! Share your joy with us!

Your CG Family