Also called Haft-seen, Haft Sin, Persian New Year table, Chaharshanbe Suri, Sizdah Bedar
The table of seven symbolic items whose Persian names begin with S, set for the Persian new year at the spring equinox, with the fire-jumping of Chaharshanbe Suri before it and the release of the sprouts into running water on the thirteenth day after.
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Take care: Keep any fire in a proper hearth, fire pit or fireproof dish, with water or an extinguisher at hand; never leave flames unattended and check local burn bans. Fire-jumping injures people every year; a small fire watched from a step away, or a candle, keeps the meaning without the burns.
On the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, people light bonfires in yards and streets and jump over them, singing a verse that trades their paleness for the fire's redness. Others go disguised door to door banging spoons on bowls for snacks, a custom often compared to trick-or-treating.
The Nowruz holidays end on the thirteenth day with a family day outdoors. The sabzeh from the haft-sin is thrown into running water, and young single people knot the grass to wish for marriage.
Afghan families prepare haft-mewa, a mix of seven dried fruits and nuts soaked in syrup, as their seven-item Nowruz dish rather than the Iranian table.
Nowruz, new day, has been kept for over 3,000 years across West and Central Asia and remains a holy day for Zoroastrians, Bahá'ís and some Ismailis, though most celebrate it as a secular new year. It begins at the vernal equinox. Nowruz is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage, and the UN General Assembly declared an International Day of Nowruz in February 2010.
The seven S table is likely younger than the festival. Older accounts describe a white cloth with a mirror, lamps, an egg and grains, and the fixed set of seven S items appears to settle into its modern form in recent centuries. Iranian families still argue happily over the exact list, and diaspora tables often add goldfish, coins and hyacinth. Fire-jumping on Chaharshanbe Suri is far older and tied to Zoroastrian reverence for fire.
A blue glass eye bead hung in the home or worn on the body so that envious or admiring looks are caught and reflected before they can do harm.
Italians eat lentils, shaped like little coins, near or after midnight on New Year's Eve so the coming year brings money. The more you eat, the richer the year.
Decorating eggs at the spring equinox or Easter to call in spring, fertility and protection, drawing on the Ukrainian pysanka and other wax-resist egg traditions. Ostara itself is a modern Pagan name built on Bede's brief mention of the goddess Ēostre.
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