Iran, Central Asia and beyond · cultural
The spring equinox — the Persian new year, kept for some three thousand years.
The date moves each year with a lunar calendar — see when it falls.
Nowruz means "new day". It begins at the exact moment of the March equinox, which is why the new year can arrive at three in the morning and families will get up for it. The haft-sin table is laid with seven items beginning with the Persian letter S, each standing for something wished for the year.
It is set by the sky rather than by a calendar — the instant the sun crosses the equator. A child can grasp that immediately, and it is astronomy they can check.
What a family can actually do
Grow sabzeh — lentils or wheat sprouted on a plate — in the two weeks before. It is the easiest gardening a small child will ever do.
“Dreams” by The Compendium Company, LLC