Saturday, March 21, 2009

Home & Happy New Year...

Hi all, we are home & yes it is Persian New Year or rather NoRooz in Farsi which means New Day...fitting really since we are starting a new chapter in our lives...so its a great day to come home...Persians everywhere, (save for me, I am too jet lagged, so the photo above is from 2005) get together, celebrate, eat & are merry for about 2 weeks starting on March 20/21 the first day of spring...the tradition is all about re-birth & re-newel...and it dates back 2568 years...

What you see us sitting in front of is a table set with the Seven C's or 7 items the names of which start with the letter C in Farsi/Persian...here is a break down of what they are and why...

Sabzeh: Where you germinate seeds in a plate or container so it sprouts in to a small lawn at it wore in a plate, often from lentils or wheat, its all about rebirth & renewal

Senjed: The fruit of a Lotus tree, it is very dry and somewhat sweet, it smells good too, & some thing it makes people fall in love, so it’s all about affection & love...

Sib: A large red Apple which stands for health & beauty, kind of like the Apple of life...

Samanu: Never eat this one, ok many do, but I think it tasted well BAD, it’s a pudding of some kind made from Wheat Pudding…anything to do with wheat is a representative of fertility, all about being fruitful if you get my drift...

Serkeh: Good old white Vinegar. This stands for age, wisdom & patience. All of us could use some of that...

Somagh: Ground up dry Sumac berries. This one is all about the Spice of Life & something to with the color of sunrise, although I don’t think so, Persians traditionally sprinkle this on many of their foods, I love it on rice specially...

Seer: Last but not least Garlic. This one is for its medicinal property & a sign of good health stinky as it may be, it’s good for you...

Other items on the table are Fish & Mirror for life & reflection, perspective if you will, money/coin for good fortune, candle to wish for light in your life, Hyacinth for life, and the Good Book, which can be a Bible, The Torah, The Koran, or any other book of faith that the person believes in, since the celebration is not religious based, in our house it is a book of poems by Hafiz, a celebrated & famous Persian poet...at the end of two weeks of celebrating, eating good food, visiting family, wearing new clothes, even giving brand new bills of cash as gifts, we all go on a picnic by a body of water, bring the Wheat that we grew in the plates with us & give it back to the earth as a circular symbol of life...

we are resting, life is good, thanks for stopping by...have a great new Spring & new year...

Jelveh

Peace

12 comments:

Maria João Rebelo said...

Glad to know you arrived safely!
All the best for both of you in this new Spring and new chapter!
Hugs! MJ

Mel P said...

NoRooz Jelveh xx

juju said...

Welcome home, Jelveh, and happy new year. Glad you arrived safely and how exciting to be starting a new chapter in your life. Take care and all the best.

Sue said...

Jelveh,

Glad you are home. Happy New Year & Happy Spring.

Sue

Laura Sparling said...

How fascinating - thanks for telling us all about Persian New Year. Nice photo too!

Great to speak to you earlier. Have a fab time with your sister and the kids.

Happy NooRooz, Jelveh!

Laura x

Anonymous said...

welcome home jelveh and a very happy new year! thanks for the explanation! i love to learn something new. joy & peace to you and yours. lisa d., portland, oregon

ginny said...

Hi Jelveh:
I am glad that you are now home-safe and sound.
Oh, my! I loved reading about the Persian New Year celebration. There are so many wonderful traditions from so long ago!
You are, indeed, one lucky girl!
Ginny

K S Jewellery Designs said...

Hi Jelveh

Happy New Year - great post!

Just to let you know I have nominated you for a Lemonade Award because I feel you have a great positive attitude towards others and their blogs. I appreciate your contributions to my blog and comments/feedback on my work. For more information please see my blog: http://ksjewellerydesigns.blogspot.com/
Kristin :)

Unknown said...

Great post. I love hearing about other cultures. I'm also glad you arrived safely :)

Thank you also for the encouragement. Yes, I do have love all around me and that is what keeps me going.

Unknown said...

I've given you an award. Stop by my blog

Unknown said...

Cool Jelveh! NoRooz! I love when you talk about Persia...its so awesome to hear about far away places that someone I know has actually been to! I'm so glad you are all home safely! TTFN!

Julia, Lewistown,MT

Tina said...

I try to learn something new everyday...today I learnt loads. Thank you. I didn't know about NoRooz at all. Hope you had a happy if sleepy NoRooz.xx