Mehdi began with a video on the origins and history of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.  Nowruz (“New Day”) occurs on the spring Equinox or first day of spring (about March 21), at the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of equal length.  Nowruz was the major holiday in the ancient monotheistic Zoroastrian religion of Persia (today’s Iran).  It was formalized in the Persian Achaemenid era (550-330 BC, between the times of the Babylonian Empire and the Greek empire of Alexander the Great.
 
 
Zoroastrian traditions spread throughout much of central Asia including Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Kurdish areas, and to Albania, and continues in some Muslim sects including Sufis, Alawites and Ismailis, as well as with Bahá'ís in northern Israel.  Some of these traditions including Nowruz still continue in Iran, in spite of the introduction of Islam in 650 AD and the 1979 Iranian Revolution which considered it pagan.  Ancient Persian astronomers were the most accurate in the world, predicting eclipses and planetary movements at least a year ahead of time, and they gave us many of the astronomical terms used today.  (The “Wise Men” who followed the “Star of Bethlehem” in the Christian New Testament [Matthew 2: 1-12] were Zoroastrian priests from the Persian culture.)
         
Fires are built on Nowruz Eve, and people jump over them for symbolic cleansing for the New Year.  Nowruz traditions also include traditional dances and having a special table spread with a decorated tablecloth, symbolic flowers, fruit, and various foods and spices (like a Persian “Seder”).  Mehdi and his wife, Behnaz, prepared a sample table display and explained the food items (which we sampled later), traditionally consisting of 7 items that begin with the letter “S” in the Farsi language:
  • Sabzeh (lentil sprouts that grow in a dish, symbolizing rebirth),
  • Samanu (sweet pudding made from wheat, symbolizing affluence),
  • Senjed (dried fruit of the oleaster tree [wild olive], symbolizing love),
  • Seer (garlic, symbolizing medicine),
  • Seeb (apple, symbolizing health and beauty),
  • Somaq (sumac berries, symbolizing the color of the sunrise),
  • Serkeh (vinegar, symbolizing age and patience).
Eggs may be decorated for good luck and fertility.  There may also be a goldfish in a bowl (for new beginnings), and a mirror (to look at your reflection)