Pirayeh Yaghmaii
The commencement of Nowruz festivities falls on the first day of the month of Farvardin in the Iranian calendar (marking the official start of spring falling generally on March 21st) or the day of Ourmazd. Unhampered that such a day is by having to correspond to any particular event in any particular month, as is the case for other feasts in the Iranian calendar, Nowruz is distinct from, and superior to, other feasts in ancient Persia (1).
Myths are numerous about where these festivities originated and how they developed. However, what most effectively surrounds the event with a certain halo of mystery is the plethora of the variety of rituals and events observed continually on the days preceding and following Nowruz
It is no wonder that Nowruz is accompanied, in all places, by a lot of commotion, excitement and chaos amongst the citizenry. It is, by no means, astounding, because temporary lack of order, in essence, is one of the symbolic characteristics of Nowruz. Ancient Iranians paradoxically regarded unrest as the originating roots of peaceful existence in the society and considered chaos and commotion as the prelude and the basis for enduring law and order that would follow. In many instances, these pride people of ancient history seemed to bring about such lack of order deliberately and by intent.
This is best symbolized in the Feast of the Return of the Dead, extending from Esfand 26th to Farvardin 5th, where people used to roam the streets and marketplace with blackened faces and, in this manner, purported to have eliminated the gap between life and death, between existence and nonexistence. To set aside the law and order prevailing all year long was not only an integral part of such theatrics but also added to the joy of the events. The people thus celebrating the event believed that the Faravahars (the good spirits) would return to life, on these days, accompanied by the ghost of their dead and they should stand ready to accost both with the mood of jubilance and vitality
The remnants of such rituals still persist to date and are best manifested in the person of Haaji-Firouz or the ?fire-builder?. Among other rituals pertaining to intentional indulgence in disorder and chaos was the ritual involving the so-called Nowruz chieftain where the position of the ruler and the subject would be temporarily reversed. This ritual entailed the selection of an individual from the lower classes of the society as the temporary ruler for a few hours or days. The mob-appointed ruler, in accordance with certain laws and regulations, would be ousted, if he issued any frivolous edicts. Hafez, the great Iranian poet philosopher, has cleverly hinted at the morals underlying this pretentious abdication of the pseudo-ruler:
I speak not in bluntness; come out of your cocoon. Just as the petals, do it out of their bloom. Far from permanent, is the mandate of the Nowruz chieftain?
The traditional spring housecleaning also points at this incidence as the philosophy of origination: disorder and untidiness, at first, order and cleanliness to follow on the wake. In this ceremony, the whole abode would be turned inside out for the purpose of cleaning. The rugs and floor covering would be cleaned of all the dust, dirt and residue of the year. In certain regions, it was customary to even do a thorough paint job on the house and, in the event this was not possible, to whitewash at least the room where the Haft Seen (seven items starting with letter seen in the Persian alphabet) table would be set. Old furniture would be thrown away and replaced by new ones. In this whole process, it was considered imperative to shatter to pieces the old pottery that symbolized the embodiment of all corruption and grief accumulated within the year. Copperware should be given new varnish at the hands of coppersmiths. Silverware would be re-varnished, in like manner. Dust and dirt would be removed from all nooks and crannies of the house.
The ghosts of their dead, the immortal spirits or Faravahars, the root of the word Farvardin (2), were supposed to be returning home at this season. They would supposedly feel elated to see the cleanliness in the surroundings coupled with the high spirits among the household and the relatives. In such a mood, the immortal spirits would bless their survivors. Otherwise, they were prone to returning to their eternal abode, unhappy and dejected. In anticipation of the immortal spirits, it was also customary to burn incense and immerse the house in musk and bring about illumination by lighting candles to enhance the friendly jolly atmosphere.
The custom prevailing in many regions was for the housewives to prepare their best meal on the last Friday of the year and to scatter it around in the burial places of their dead and then to go roaming about, on the day preceding Nowruz, the Arafa or the Alafa or, according to some, Aunt Sun, at the home of those who had died within the year. They would condole the relatives of the dead and send blessings and assert that they were celebrating on behalf of the dead as well.
While busy in the task of housecleaning, around twenty days prior to Nowruz, housewives would put wheat and other grains for germination and sprouting. The ancient Iranians would place on earthen columns the seeds, including those of wheat, barely, rice, beans, lintel, pea, corns and others, numbering seven or twelve in count, symbolizing the Seven Amshaspands or the holy number of the months of the year, respectively. The successful germination of each kind of seed would be taken as a good omen. The ancient Iranians were of the belief that the particular seed would bring about abundance and fecundity during the year. The households would usually put to germination the seeds of wheat, barley and grain feed as the symbols of Humat or good reflection, of Hukhat or good words, of Huvrasht or good deeds, the triple principle motto in Zoroastrian thinking. They believed the spirit of their descendents to be the agent of growth and development for the living.
Charshanbeh Souri, which is composed of the two words Charshanbeh, meaning the last such day (Wednesday) in the year, and Souri, coming from the root word sourik, synonymous with sorkh or red in Persian, and, as such a compound word meaning the Red Wednesday, is the serious herald of the advent of the Nowruz festivities. In ancient Persia, some of the paraphernalia of the Nowruz celebrations such as mirrors, pottery and harmel, would be procured on this day at the Charshanbeh Market Fair. The market, on this night, would be illuminated and decorated colorfully and would exude joy and happiness. The shopping of this day definitely counted as a special ceremony in its own rights.
At sundown [on the evening before Wednesday], dry shrubbery, seven or three bundles of them, (the number three signifying the three good words, deeds and thoughts professed by Zoroaster) would be piled on one another. As sunlight completely faded, the feasters would set fire to the bundles so that the flames would go roaring high into the sky to supplant the sun. In some regions of Iran, discarded items in the house such as old blankets, quilts or clothing would be burnt in the fire as an appeal for and an expectation of good omen.
The fire could be built anywhere, on the countryside or in public thoroughfares as well as on the rooftops at home. When the flames would be roaring high, people would jump over it repeatedly, wistfully chanting songs that, all the time, prayed for abundance, good health, fertility and cleanliness. The feast makers would not extinguish the Charshanbeh Souri fire but would let it burn it out. Then, somebody would collect the ashes that were considered to be sacred. He or she would then go to the first crossroads, without as much as glance backwards, to scatter the ashes around. Once back at home, this person would engage in a question and answer session with the household:
“Who is that?” they would ask him or her.
“It is me.” He or she would answer.
“Where are you coming from?”
“From a wedding.”
“What have you brought with yourself?”
“Good health for all”
“Shawl-throwing” or Shawl Andazi was also one of the rituals reserved for Charshanbeh Souri. After the fire ceremony, the youngsters would go on the rooftops of their own home or of their neighbors and relatives. There, they would insert a shawl into the house through the chimney. The owners of that house were expected to wrap a gift in that piece of cloth before it would be drawn back. Late Iranian poet Shahriyar, made romantic nostalgic reference to this ritual and to the wish for abundance and the respect for the dead that it signifies. In verses 27 and 28 of his Heydar Baba, the great work of ode, he composed:
It was Nowruz and
The nightingale would sing thus:
The girl betrothed,
Knitting colorful socks
For her future husband,
Would, at the same time,
Send down her shawl.
O, what a glorious ceremony
The shawl-throwing is!
What a glory
To wrap a gift
In that piece of cloth.
“Verse 27”
I, too, threw
A temper tantrum
And demanded a shawl
When I got it,
I wore it around my waist.
I then hurried
To the residence of
My cousin, Gholam.
There, did I hang the cloth.
Fatemeh, my aunt,
Wrapped in my shawl
A pair of socks.
Reminiscing about
Her mother, grandmother
Of mine, she then bust
Into tears.
“Verse 28”
In exaltation of this ceremony, Shahriyar explains, “That year, my grandmother, Lady Mom, had passed away. According to protocol, we were not supposed to take part in the Nowruz festivities. But I was still a child. With great persistence, I managed to get a piece of cloth and hastened to the rooftop.”
Another ritual marking Charshanbeh Souri was the Fallgoosh or “fortune-telling by eavesdropping.” This was exclusive to those with a certain wish, such as that of a girl in marriageable age to find a mate or that of a married woman to get a baby. The wishers would stand vigil at a crossroads, symbolizing a transition point from a difficult stage, and would throw, down under their feet, a key, signifying the means to pass through that point successfully. They would then make a wish and stand alert, listening to human voices. The conversation among the first passersby would be construed as the connotation to their wish. They were, in reality, praying the good spirits to open, with the key underneath their feet, the gate to their ideal world.
Drumming with spoons on a copper utensil or “Ghaashogh Zani” was another ritual that also personified the situation of entertaining the spirits. The spoon, coupled with the copper dish, signified food and nourishment. Feeding and nourishment were esteemed high for the Iranians both as pastime and as means of subsistence as well as the most exalted thing to wish for others or to entertain others with.
The ancient Iranians would set, on their rooftops, colorful tables with a variety of dishes for the immortal spirits. That way, they believed to be entertaining their new-arriving guests. As the spirits were supposedly intangible, the hosts would attempt to mask their faces and thus remain incognito. Since the ancient Iranians regarded food and nuts as luxuries originally coming exclusively from the immortal spirits, they would welcome to be at the receiving end of such gifts from anybody and took it as a good omen.
The most authentic, by far, of the Nowruz rituals, was the Haft Seen table which had been inspired by the number seven of Amshaspands. In his “Illuminating the World”, Dr. Bahram Frahvashi argues that what later was perpetuated as the Haft Seen Table had originally been the custom to set seven platters or trays or seven dishes on the Nowruz table. It was generically called the seven seenis or trays. With the passage of time, the phrase had been contracted into the seven seens, a diminutive form that had shed the ending vowel. This researcher and author is of the opinion that the tendency still persists in some rural regions of the country to refer the Haft Seen Table as the Haft Seeni Table or as the table of seven trays.
The ingredients of this table would be water and grass, symbolizing light and abundance, a torch, later reduced to lighted candles, symbolizing the endurance of light and heat, milk, symbolizing regenerative power, resurrection and rebirth, eggs, signifying the living species and the human embryo, the mirror, symbolizing transparency of the thought and good faith, the senjed, dried date-like fruit of the jujube tree abundant in autumn that is also known as trebizond date or the Elaeagnus fruit, symbolizing love, birth and fertility, the fish, symbol of the past month of Esfand or Hoot, the apple, symbolizing faithfulness and trust in love, the pomegranate, symbol of holiness, newly minted coins, symbol of affluence and wealth, the orange as a symbol of the globe earth, musk willow flower which is exclusive to Esfand and rose water that represents the old custom of “water-splashing” (according to Abu Reyhan, Iranian thinker, it is sensible to splash one another with water in spring in order to cleanse the individual of the soot and ash accumulated in winter as a result of sitting at the fireside for an extended period of time). Other items would include bread, baked of the seven grains, dates, cheese, sugar, branches of the holy trees, the pomegranate, the willow, the olive and the fig in clusters of three, seven or twelve and, finally, the holy book.
It should be also noted that some Muslims believe that one Nowruz fell on the first day of accession to the Caliphate of Ali, the first Imam of the Shiites. In this respect Hatef Esfahani (3), Iranian poet, has made specific references in his poetry exalting both the occasion and the personage.
It may be of some relevance to also mention that during the reign of Fath Ali Shah, of the Qajar dynasty, it had been ordained that all poets turn to telling the truth rather than to continue their habitual praising of the Sultan all the time. One poet, in deference to this edict, composed the following piece and recited it on a Nowruz day at an assembly in the presence of the king and received a generous reward:
I wonder why this king
Behaves as though
He believes he were
Either Darius or Khosrow.
In his pomp and glory,
He is emulating Keykhosrow.
Unaware of the length and
Breadth of his beard,
He thinks Keyshosrow
To be only second to him.
All this, unfortunately,
Despite the fact that.
After the fashion of the beard,
The whole land is in a shambles
As if the country stood
Rooted precariously
On an expanse of water.
The sharp humor of the words, coupled with the joyous mood of the season, may have mitigated his ?Despotic Majesty? enough to remember and respect his own decree without regard for personal ego.
As an appropriate ending to this article, the author wishes to quote a translation of an uplifting piece of poetry by Abu Navas, from Ahwaz of Khuzestan, Iran.
Do you not see that?
The sun is closing in
On the vernal equinox.
And the days have been
Getting ever longer
To equal in length
With the nights?
Do you not see that?
The birds, after a lengthy silence,
Are resuming
Their songs?
Do you not see that?
The earth is getting dressed
In the colorful attire
Of the pines?
Then, do not hesitate
To revel at the renewal
Of these times
NOTES:
1. This article was originally written in Persian. The English version now appearing by Mr. Ghafour Memarzadeh, a retired bank director and one-time teacher of English now living in Tehran. Mr. Memarzadeh has an MBA from the University of Oklahoma and BA in English Literature. Because of his penchant for comparative literature since his early college days, Mr. Memarzadeh seems to have acquired just the right technical credentials to undertake this kind of translation.
2. In the Zoroastrian creed, the Faravahars, were considered to be the individua personification of the collective spirit of humanity, those born and living and those already dead or still not born. The Faravahar represented the embracing of the three pillars of Zoroastrian thought, good reflection, good words and good deeds and the rejection of the opposite, bad reflection , bad words and bad deeds.
