Members of the Iranian Students Association held a celebration at the Rock Quarry House for the start of Nowruz, also known as Persian New Year, on March 18. 

Nowruz, which means “new day” in Persian, is a 13-day festival that kicks off on the spring equinox. For more than 3,000 years, people primarily in Western and Central Asian countries such as Iran, Azerbaijan, and Georgia as well as Albania, Turkey and India have celebrated Nowruz. It also marks the start of the Iranian calendar, which has been used for over three millennia. 

Nowruz has its origins in Zoroastrianism but is now a secular holiday. Nowadays it is an event that symbolically represents life starting again with the spring season. For Iranian Students Association president and doctoral student Melika Khakbazan, it is a time of rebirth and renewal. 

“It’s at the beginning of spring, so I think it’s not just a coincidence,” Khakbazan said. “It’s the end of winter and the beginning of spring, so everything becomes new again. The name originates from the fact that everything is getting new and refreshed.”

As Nowruz marks a renewal in life, it is meant to bring others together in communities and strengthen bonds with loved ones. The Iranian Students Association honored this as they held a celebration to mark the start of Nowruz for those in the community.

Members made traditional Nowruz dishes, such as sabzi polo mahi (herbed rice with white fish), and set up a haft-seen. A haft-seen is a ceremonial table spread of seven objects, all beginning with the letter ‘S’ in Persian, and each carries a symbolic meaning that relates to nature. Each household typically sets up a haft-seen for spiritual and traditional purposes for the duration of Nowruz. The haft-seen is a crucial component of Nowruz, and so are the main seven objects: seeb (apple, for beauty), sabzeh (wheatgrass, for nature), senjed (dried fruit, for love), serkeh (vinegar, for patience), samanu (wheat-germ pudding, for power), somaq (sumac, for love and compassion) and seer (garlic, for good health).

Before and during the 13-day event, participants follow other traditions that center around making way for the new year, like spring cleaning called “shaking down the house” and Chaharshanbe Suri festivals, where participants jump over fires to cleanse themselves of troubles from the prior year.

“Usually in Iran, people clean their homes — it’s kind of refreshing — and throw away old things,” Khakbazan said. “The second thing is visiting family and friends. They will go to each other’s houses, usually on the first day of the New Year. They usually go to the older people of their family to pay their respect. And they give each other gifts.”

The Iranian Students Association held a picnic April 2, the last day of Nowruz, to celebrate Sizdah Be-dar.

Sizdah Be-dar (known as Nature’s Day) is celebrated on the last day of Nowruz by having a picnic, and the Iranian Students Association organized one at Twin Lakes Recreation Area as part of the tradition. In Persian, “sizdah” means “13,” and “be-dar” means “to get rid of,” so “Sizdah Be-dar” means “getting rid of the 13,” as it falls on the last day of  Nowruz. Khakbazan said many cultures that celebrate Nowruz view the number 13 as bad luck, and they believe spending the day in nature is a way to avoid bad luck for the new year. Wheatgrass from haft-seens is also released back to the Earth as a way to connect to nature and to rid themselves of troubles for the new year. 

For over three millennia, Nowruz has remained a significant holiday for many cultures. To those who celebrate, Khakbazan said it is important that people organize campus events like Nowruz. 

“Especially for students who are in their first year and homesick, it’s very important,”  Khakbazan said. 

Edited by Emmet Jamieson | ejamieson@themaneater.com