Wait—what? New Year in March?

It was just one week ago: March 19, 2024. And since it was the first day of Spring, it also marked the first day of the Iranian/Persian New Year!

I was sitting on my moss green couch when I heard a ginger rapping on our front door. Was it the mail carrier with yet another UPS package to sign for? No; it was a gorgeous pair of sparkling brown eyes awaiting me instead. They belonged to one of Parisa’s (my adult daughter’s) Iranian friends.
“Zari?!” I said, laughing as I opened the door and welcomed her in.

“Saalam, Leslie joon! Sale no mobarak!” (“Hello, Dear Leslie! Happy New Year!”) she replied, hugging me with one arm and balancing a dish of tender green wheat sprouts (sabzeh) on the other. “And here you are: the sabzeh I promised to bring for your haft sin [pronounced “haft seen”]--I mean, for your New Year table!”

“Zari! I know what haft sin is. It’s a display of seven items from nature that start with the “S” sound in Persian, with each item symbolizing something we associate with new year!” Just like this dish of sabzeh you brought me, symbolizing the renewal of life.”

“Yes, very good—that’s exactly right!” said Zari, duly impressed. “So, where is your table with the other six symbols? I’ll put the sabzeh there.”

I cleared my throat.

“Mmmmmm… Well … Amin (my son-in-law) usually sets up the table, but he and Parisa are out of town now, and I still can’t quite remember where they packed the items and decorations from last year’s haft sin. But no worries--I’m sure I’ll find them! In the meantime, let me find a suitable tablecloth to put here on this table. We’ll make your sabzeh the centerpiece and get things started! 

​I found something even better than “suitable”: a fine cloth of gold and sky-blue brocade that Amin had brought back from Iran. But even when we draped it artfully on the table and crowned it with Zari’s dish of wheat sprouts, my New Year’s table looked pretty bare!

“I’ll find the other items,” I told Zari a second time (but I wasn’t really convinced that I could!)

“You know what?” Zari said, interrupting my thoughts, “I have a few things to do, but it’s only five o’clock, and we still have six more hours before the New Year starts. So, I’ll be back if I can--and together we can make your haft sin complete!”

No sooner had I asked myself, Why should she go through this trouble for me?, than she pecked me on the cheek and answered my question (“Because you are just like my aunt to me!”)—as if she had just read my mind! Moments later she waved, and off she went!

Three hours later, I heard another rapping sound on the door. When I opened it, sure enough, it was Zari again--looking even more stunning than usual and ready to go out on the town! But slung across her shoulder was a plain linen bag that made clinking sounds as she entered the house! What was inside?

​“Sorry to be late!” she humbly apologized, “But I brought a few things from my house that maybe we could use for your New Year’s table? Wanna see?”

She reached into the bag, pulled out an assortment of objects, and laid each one just so on the blue brocade...

Suddenly my lonely little haft sin had bloomed into a bright, festive tribute to a meaningful holiday. And it embodies the first act of kindness I remember from this year’s Iranian New Year!

​Thank you, Dear Zari!

​And finally:
 
SALE NO MOBARAK!

A happy Persian New Year to everyone who celebrates it!                                          

PS For those who would like a brief explanation of the meaning behind the haft sin symbols:
 
It’s not hard to see how the green sprouts of sabzeh would tie in with the theme of the “new life” of spring. And in keeping with long-held Iranian tradition, at least six other items (all beginning with the “s” sound) should grace a household table with their symbolic presence:

• Samanu: a wheat germ pudding, standing for affluence
• Senjed: a dried fruit called oleaster, standing for love
• Sir: garlic, which stands for medicinal power
• Sib: the apple, standing for beauty and health
• Somaq: sumac, which stands for fertility, and
• Serkeh, vinegar, which stands for increased grace and patience with age

 
There’s a whole array of additional options that could make for an even fancier table: a polished mirror, shiny coins, brightly-colored eggs like you might see at Easter, goldfish swimming in a bowl. But between you and me, my favorite item will always be sabzeh, (like the sprouts Zari [pictured above] gifted me with as a centerpiece for the table, and like the shoots we used to plant in our milk cartons when I was in second grade!)