Happy new year!
Thank you so much anon!😍💖💗 I didn't expect to receive a happy new year message here!
For those who don't know, today was the start of Nowruz(meaning “new day”), Iranian new year. It is an ancient celebration which is thousands years old. Our new year starts on the first day of spring.
Since we all love stories here, I'm going to use this opportunity to tell the folklore tale of Nowruz -which is a symbolic tale of transition from old year to new year- and explain some traditions associated with it.
I summarized and translated the story myself. Sorry for any mistakes in English.
A little information needed before reading the story:
Amu Nowruz: Means “Uncle Nowruz”. He is a legendary character originating in Iranian folklore who appears annually at the beginning of spring to mark the beginning of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year. He brings children gifts, much like his counterpart Santa Claus.
Nane Sarma: Means “Grandma Frost”. She is the symbol of cold and brings winter.
“Once upon a time, there was an old man named Uncle Nowruz. Every year on the first day of spring, he would walk down from the mountain to reach the city gate. Outside the city gates lived an old woman named Nane Sarma who was in love with Uncle Nowruz.
On the first day of every spring, Nane Sarma would get up early in the morning, clean the house and wear makeup and perfume.She would bring her carpet and throw it on the porch, in front of the fountain pond facing her garden, which was full of all kinds of flowering fruit trees and colorful flowers. In a beautiful and clean tray, she would put garlic, vinegar, sumac, senjed, apple, sabzeh, and samanu. And in another tray she would put candies and seven kinds of fruits.
Then she would sit and wait for Uncle Nowruz. It would not take long for her eyes to feel heavy and she would slowly fall asleep.
Meanwhile Uncle Nowruz would arrive but the kindhearted man wouldn't wake her up. Instead he would leave a marigold flower on her chest and kiss her cheek and then he would leave.
Nane Sarma would wake up alone to find the flower and she would realize that Amu Nowruz has come and gone and she has no choice but to wait for another spring, summer, autumn and winter to pass until she can see Amu Nowruz.
Legend says that if they meet, the world ends. And since the world hasn't ended yet, these two still haven't seen each other.”
Some information to understand the story better:
In Persian, Marigold flower is called “Forever spring flower”.
One of the trays that Nane Sarma puts together, includes the main items of Haft-seen. Haft-seen is an arrangement of seven symbolic items whose names start with the letter "س" pronounced as "seen". “Haft” means seven in Persian. Some items you might not know:
Sabzeh: wheat, barley, mung bean, or lentil sprouts grown in a dish.
Samanu: wheat germ sweet pudding.
Senjed: Oleaster
The other tray includes candies and fruits. In Nowruz family and friends visit each other and fruits, sweets, candies and nuts are offered to visitors and guests.
Haft-seen:
Happy Nowruz!🌸💜
