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