Spring festivities prevail in many countries and societies, falling on different days of the Gregorian calendar but in Iran it has a greater significance than elsewhere. March 21 each year marks the start of the Iranian New Year (called Nowruz - a new day), and is the season for extended holidays throughout the country, as well as in Iranian communities residing abroad, and is a singularly joyous occasion.
The tradition of Nowruz dates back to the legendary king Jamshid (whose tomb in Takht-e-Jamshid near Shiraz, South Iran, is a major tourist attraction even now), who instituted the festival for the first day of spring, after the long and harsh winter. The change in weather is so abrupt that one can feel it palpably with a pleasant, balmy and crisp atmosphere, and burst of flowers even before there are leaves on the winter-denuded plants and trees.
The solar calendar in Iran had some anomalies, but the renowned mathematician, philosopher and poet - Omar Khayyam - devised the new calendar based on zodiac signs and earth's revolution around the sun. The orbit takes 365 days, 6 hours and some minutes, so every fourth year, a day is added to the last month of the year - a Leap year.
The year's first six months all have 31 days, the next five months have 30 days each, and the last month has 29 days (30 days in the Leap year). Khayyam did the calculations to conform the solar year to the first year of Hijra and therefore it is now year 1390 of the Iranian solar Hijri year. The difference between the Gregorian and Islamic Hijra year starting from 622 A.D. is still the same according to Khayyam's devised calendar, and perfectly defines the four seasons.
Each year starts at a certain hour that is over 6 hours in advance of the previous year (in keeping with the earth's rotation). So sometimes the New Year starts in the evening of March 20, sometimes at midnight or early hours of March 21, or in the early morning or noon of March 21. That particular hour (hours, minutes and seconds) are announced in advance and at the stroke of the hour there are sirens or canon booms, announcing the advent of the New Year and the start of festivities for which preparations may have been going on for a month or longer.
In Tehran, a hill station, it is fairly cold at the time (may even be snowing) and people prefer to go on a vacation to some salubrious place to relax, either along the Caspian coast, or one of the stations in South or Central Iran, or even to some foreign destination. Those who stay behind, have a busy time entertaining visitors, and in turn, being entertained by their near and dear ones.
A return visit is 'de rigueur', immediately or some days later. These visits called Deed va Bazdeed are a tradition of seeing elders, kins, relatives and friends. Even those who cannot be met immediately, have exchange of greetings over the phone. It is customary to exchange gifts, offer sweets and pay Eidis by the elders to their juniors and kids.
All employers, whether state departments or private establishments, have to pay a bonus, before Nowruz, to all employees, as a legal and mandatory perk. This may amount to a fraction or more of the employees salary and allowances - sometimes equal to two months' pay or more, besides allowances in kind. There used to be payments in gold coins, but that does not seem to be very practical for average families now. The children have a field day, collecting Eidis and wolfing down sweets, with consequential sore throats or tummy upsets, same as with kids in our country on Eids.
The period preceding Nowruz is a real hardship for housewives who have to clean and spruce up their residences to a degree which we in Pakistan cannot even imagine. Those who can afford, buy new furniture, change curtains, lay new carpets, and have new dresses (several sets) for everyone in the house for visits and return visits.
Children will receive gifts from all and sundry, usually toys, but sometimes even costlier items. Jewellery, trinkets and other valuable presents as gifts by those who can afford, are quite common. Those, who cannot, make do with washing old curtains or carpets, or reupholstering furniture to look like new. All this happens during the month of Esfand (the twelfth month) when the weather in Tehran is freezing and so too in other hilly parts of the country.
But the cleaning operations mean shutting off the heaters and opening the windows to let in the fresh air, and the cold draughts that are a prelude to the cold, cough and flu in most households. That is a chore for the ladies, while the men-folk have to go an extra mile to earn the money to pay for all the preparations, including clothes, decoration, travel expenses and other plans.
The festivities last a fortnight or more depending on individual budgets, but for an average household, it is a very taxing time, and for ladies, an ordeal.
On the 13th day of the New Year (known as Sizdeh Badar (.........) every body goes out of their house or preferably out of the city, to a green spot with a running stream. Ladies, who have planted wheat on a plate a few days before Nowruz, take the shoots off on Sizdeh Badar and throw them away in the wilderness to ward-off evil spirits. Also young maidens of marriageable age tie up leaves of grass or other plants into a knot, in the hope of tying a matrimonial knot soon in the New Year. This is known as 'Sabzeh girah zadan' (.........)
Sizdeh Badar outing can be called a picnic, but for Iranians, who consider the number 13 as inauspicious, it is an escape from the evils that may befall them if they stay in their normal abode or even the habitat. So they go out to a nice scenic spot with greenery and running water (preferably a mountain stream) and pass the day there, returning only after nightfall. It goes without saying that the empty houses without the inmates offer a tempting opportunity to thieves for house-breaking and plunder! Also the rush of picnickers to and from their pleasure spots exposes them to severe accidents or other mishaps, injuries or illnesses. Children are the most vulnerable among them, from over-eating if nothing else!
The story of Nowruz will not be complete without mentioning the season of feasts (including plans for weddings and/or honeymoons) at the auspicious moments of New Year, and the salubrious weather. Winters are very harsh and severe in Iran, with plenty of snowfalls or rain. People, fed up with wearing heavy clothing during the prolonged autumn and winter months, and remaining cooped up indoors due to the inclement weather, really breath a sign of relief at the start of spring when they can shed the extra clothes and enjoy the outdoors. It doesn't matter that winter conditions in some places may continue even during April or May, but they prefer to ignore that and behave as if such encumbrances do not exist!
That is the real spirit of Eid-e-Nowruz. Happy New Year, not only to Iranians, but all other countries who follow a seasonal calendar, like Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and many others where spring is considered a blessing.