Persian New Year, also known as Nowrooz, which mean “new day” is celebrated in March. It marks the beginning of spring and is the day of the vernal equinox. Nowrooz has been celebrated since 11th century. There are plenty of traditions how to celebrate new year in Iran. The most important thing in Nowruz is the Haft Sin, a tablesetting of with seven symbolic foods all starting with the letter 'S'. These symbolic “foods” are wheat, barley or lentil sprouts (sabzeh), a wheat pudding (samanu), dried oleaster berries (senjed), garlic (sir), apples (sib), sumac berries (somaq) and vinegar (serkeh). The table also includes other items like candles, mirrors, colored eggs and even goldfish. The other significant part of the new year is the food and sweets that people make.
The most popular dishes during new year are:
1. Kookoo sabzi – an herbed omelet with barberries and walnuts
2. Sabzi polow ba mahi – rice with herbs and served with fried saffron fish
3. Dolmeh barg – grape leaves stuffed with rice and ground lamb
4. Ash e reshteh – Iranian noodle soup
Then there are some sweets that is common during new year:
1. Faloodeh - a cold dessert, consist thin vermicelli noodles mixed up with frozen syrup containing sugar and rose water and it is served with fresh lime juice
2. Baklava – sweet pastry filled with nuts and sweetened with syrup and honey
3. Nan berenji – Rice cookies with poppy seeds and rose water
4. Nan badami – Almond cookies with cardamom and rose water
Comments