Interview with Mimi Ovaneffoff:

Nourouz is the traditional New Year holiday celebrated across a broad swath of the world, from Iran throughout central Asia, and as far as Turkey, India and Pakistan. It is celebrated each year at the Vernal Equinox (this year it was on March 20) and for thirteen days after.

San Diegan Mimi Ovaneffoff very kindly agreed to be interviewed about the holiday, which she grew up celebrating in Iran, and which she still celebrates today in California with her family.

Here she describes the beautiful traditions associated with the holiday.

Special thanks to Mimi for her kind participation!

Sparrowpost: Which spring holidays do you celebrate?
Mimi Ovaneffoff: We celebrate Norouz and Easter.

SP: From what I understand, Nourouz is a multi-part holiday that starts before the Spring Equinox and extends over a period of weeks. When does it begin?
MO: It begins with a holiday called Chaharshanbe Soori, or the “last wednesday festival” which takes place on the last Wednesday of the Persian year. “Chaharshanbe” means Wendesday, and Soori means “eve,” so it is celebrated on Tuesday night--- the “eve of Wednesday.” In Iran what they did (of course here it’s illegal) is that in all the neighborhoods, in the middle of the street, everybody would make huge bonfires. Not out of pieces of wood, but instead out of tumbleweeds.

A couple of days before the holiday, villagers come from the countryside into the cities with piles upon piles of tumbleweeds. They go through the neighborhoods yelling “tumbleweeds for sale”and everyone comes to buy them. This is what they make the bonfire out of. Once the fire is started, it’s just a matter of running through it and jumping over it. When you do, you say“give me your red glow, and take away my pale yellow color.” This is a literal translation. “You’re telling the fire to give you health and red glow. So it takes away the bad stuff from the year before, and gets rid of the winter colds and so on. Everybody tries to jump through the fire. Fire is the basis of the Zorastrian religion, which was a major influence on Persian culture.

SP: Do you still celebrate this holiday in the U.S.?
MO: Yes. The Persian community used to get together and it at La Jolla Shores in the firepits on the beach. Sometimes the firepit fires are too huge to jump over... but some people would jump over and others would just put their neck over or something. After a while somebody complained or something, so now we go to Mission Bay and celebrate in the fire pits there. Everyone comes together and we eat a lentil and pasta soup with lots of fresh herbs in it, which is the traditional dish for the holiday. Then everyone greets eachother and says Happy New Year in advance, because Chaharshanbe Soori is just before the start of Norouz.

SP: I read on Wikepedia that there is also a part of Charshambe Suri that sounds a little like Halloween, with little kids going door to door dressed as ghosts...
MO: It’s not really Halloween. What happens is that a man called “hadji firouz” comes through the neighborhood. He’s the tambourine man is the symbol of Chaharshanbe Soori and the beginning of Nourouz. He’s dressed in all red, and his face is all black and his lips are white, a little like a clown. He goes wtih the tambourine, and dances and goes through the streets, like Santa, or a court jester. The kids follow the hadji firouz with pots and pans and spoons, and they would hit the pots and they would get coins instead of candy. It is a little like Halloween, because they go to the neighbor’s houses but instead of candy they get coins. Everyone knows to expect the kids, and so they stock up on coins. I did this as a child, and I remember doing it every Nourouz. Even when I was going to boarding school I would always come home for Norouz.

SP: I know Nourouz has already passed this year. How did you celebrate?
MO: Nourouz always takes place on the Spring Equinox, so we celebrated on March 20 this year. I stayed home and waited for the year to come. We listened to Persian radio waiting for the announcement. The time of Norouz changes each year, taking place anywhere from the 19th to the 21st of March. Norouz is the start of the Persian New Year, and it takes place at the precise moment the sun crosses the Equator on the Vernal Equinox. That’s why the day changes. Unlike the American New Year which takes place at 12 am in each different time zone, Nourouz is celebrated around the world at the exact same moment, when the sun crosses the equator. So this year, my uncles called from Tehran, and we were all celebrating at the same time.

SP: What traditions do you have for Norouz?
MO: One tradition is the tradition of growing sprouts indoors. If you’ve ever seen Easter centerpieces made out of grass, or wheat grass in the health food stores, it’s a bit like that.. We grow sprouts out of wheat or lentils. We soak the lentils a few days before Charshambe Suri and then a few days later we drain the water and some people put them in these beautiful dishes it in these beautiful dishes... (Although you can put them in anything.) We water the sprouts everyday , and grow them thorughout Nourouz. They are a symbol of rebirth and the New Year, and an important part of the Nourouz Table.

SP: What is the "Nourouz Table?"
MO: An important part of the holiday is the Norouz table, or the “Sofreyeh Haft Seen” or “the cloth of the seven dishes.” What you do is choose a corner of your home and spread a cloth (any kind of cloth, some people have very elaborate clothes, some are very simple) and on it you place the seven dishes, which correspond to the Seven “S”s.

MO: The first S is for sabzeh, meaning green, which is represented by the sprouts. The second is “Samanu” which is a pudding made of wheat sprouts. Some people like to eat it, but I think it’s disgusting. It also represents rebirth. The third is “Sib” or “apple,” which represents beauty. So you choose a beautiful red or green apple and put it on the cloth. The fourth is Semjed or dried fruit, specifically that which comes from lotus plant. This fruit is a symbol for love and happiness. Fifth is Serkey or vinegar, which symbolizes age and patience. Sixth is “Seer’ or garlic which symbolizes health, and the seventh is Sumaq: Berries which represent joy. Seven has been a sacred number in asia since ancient times, so it’s important. Everybody also puts two other things on the Haft Seen. A mirror to reflect light (so you always have light in your life) and candles whether it’s just a small candle you can afford, or a large candleabra, there are always candles

MO: All this symbolism in your home for the rebirth, beauty, happiness and love, age and paitence health and joy. It is like the Christmas tree in the U.S., except that if you can’t afford a Christmas tree, you’re out of luck. By contrast, the Sofreyeh Haft Seen consists of things that everyone has in their house, and can make easily. So anyone can celebrate. Also, it’s a cultural holiday, not a religious holiday. So everyone celebrates, whether they’re Moslem or Christian Orthodox or Jewish or Zorastrian.

SP: What do you do on Nourouz itself?
NO: Well on the morning of Nourouz, the younger generation goes to the homes of the elders and pays visits. Traditionally the youngest people start making their visits first, and then the elders return the visits later on. We serve lots of sweets for this holiday, baklavas, sweets candy marziapn in beautifully made shapes, lots of fresh nuts, pistachios and almonds. Tons of raisins and dried fruits. Traidtional Persian sweets, all served with dark, black Persian tea. Eating it is not optional. You have to eat everything that is in front of you.
Whenever you visit someone’s home, you will give money. Banks get new printed money printed by the mint just in time for the New Year. Traditionally younger people get money from the elders. Richer people hand one other true gold coins, minted for the New Year. They still have these, although they are printed with all the post-revolution stuff on it now.

SP: How has the way you celebrate Nourouz changed from the way you celebrated when you were a kid?
MO: I think if you’re back home it hasn’t changed much at all. In a way it might have changed because people’s morale is lower... there’s a lot of poverty so the holiday might not be as abundant as it used to be. People aren’t up to spending as much as they used to spend. So it’s a lot simpler now, but the symbolism is there. The nice thing about the holiday is that it can be as simple and elaborate as you want, and it can be done cheaply.

SP: What parts of the holiday do you still celebate? do you pay visits?
MO: It depends.. here we’re very scattered, when my family was in LA we would of course go up there for a visit. Now that they have passed on I went with my friends to visit some other friends, and we went to my Aunt’s house. But the visits aren’t as elaborate here as they are in Iran. In Iran you celebrate all 13 of Norouz, and you make visits through that whole period.

SP: Are there parts of the holiday you’re glad not to do anymore?
MO: No not at all. It’s a beautiful holiday. I love the smell of the Haft Seen. Our traditional flower for the season is the hyacinth, the sonboa. Which smells wonderful and decorates our homes during the holiday. I love Norouz.

SP: Is there a part of the holiday that you wish could become a part of American Culture?
MO: Just hte Nourouz itself, to celebrate the first day of spring, Here in California where it seems like it’s always spring, people don’t notice the change, and don’t feel the happiness of spring time. I wish we could feel the change a little more, so we would be able to experience that re-awakening.

SP: How does the holiday end?
MO: It ends on the 13th day after Norouz, and on this day you HAVE to be out of your home. The name of the day is “Siz deh-be-dar” or “out with it,” “out with the 13.” On this day we grab our sprouts out of our containers and put them out on the hood of the cars, and everybody goes to the park. It’s important to go someplace green where there’s running water. You go and throw away your sprouts into the water, and you wish for all the bad to go out. You make a wish.

SP: Did you celebrate Siz de-be-dar this year?
MO: Yes. What we did was go to Del Mar to the park. We took sandwiches and Persian dishes. We took our sprouts and we basically thew them in the ocean.

SP: I like the idea of having an official spring picnicing holiday!
MO: Yeah, it’s big in Iran. There you don’t have all the entertainments you have here. You don’t have elaborate movie theaters and diversions. So you take everyone outside. Kids run around and fly the kites. Families make a lot of food and tea. Parents sit around and talk and play backgammon. It’s very important to put your elders in the car and take them too.

SP: Well, Norouz sounds like a great spring holiday!
MO: Yes! This year we celebrated the start of the year 1385 on the Persian Calender. It was a lot of fun.

By: Carla Blackmar

Last December I was talking to a friend about why we feel compelled to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas in such a big way each year. “We have to celebrate big” she said “because the winter holidays are the last REAL holidays we have.” “When I was a kid, we used to celebrate the other holidays as well, like Easter. But you just don’t celebrate the Spring and Summer holidays the way you used to.”

The notion that Christmas and the winter “Holiday Season” are holding the rest of the year’s celebrations hostage rings true to my own experience. I had always assumed that I was alone in my sense of disconnect from the Spring Holidays, but the more I talked to people in their 20s and 30s, the more it seems that the spring Holidays, and Easter in particular have become a burden, if they exist for us at all. I think many people in my generation don’t celebrate Easter at all until they have kids, at which point they are obliged to buy an Easter basket and arrange for some egg hunting.

I can think of a million reasons for the disconnect with the Spring Holidays. One possibility is that the religious underpinnings of holidays like Easter and Passover are more grave than those of Christmas and Chanukah. Unlike Christmas Eve, the celebration of a birth, or the Chanukah celebration of miraculous light, the Easter and Passover celebrations reflect a darker history. And one truly feels like an interloper showing up on the feast day to party when everyone else in church, or around the Seder table has been doing the serious penance of Lent, or keeping Kosher for Passover. These holidays require a little more commitment than I am willing to give.

When that feeling of guilty delinquence is added to the already frenzied schedule of Springtime, it’s easy to understand why I don’t feel up to celebrating. My holiday energies for the year have already been sucked dry by the winter “Holiday Season.” I just can’t rally for another batch of holidays so soon.

Furthermore, when we DO actually get around to celebrating, it seems that we do it through overconsumption. New spring clothes, tons of candy, stuffed animals, etc. etc. But didn’t we just do that? It seems what remains of all the mainstream spring holidays: Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s’ Day, Mardi Gras and Easter have lost their individual identity, and have taken to aping Christmas. The underlying theme for each celebration is the necessity of buying stuff. Through purchasing candy, diamonds, beer. etc. we can at last get past all that messy religiosity, and partake in what holidays area really about. Buying stuff is our way of getting in on the values of love, family, and re-birth that we presume are at the root of these festivals.

What’s sad is that it really seems that there’s so much more there . Beyond (and possibly underlying) the religious significance of the Spring Holidays is the profound natural significance of Springtime itself; shockingly restless, filled with beauty. The great religious holidays we celebrate seem to echo the natural truth of the season. The need to move on from Egypt, the radical re-incarnation of Jesus. Truly, there is something to celebrate here.
So this year Sparrowpost’s project is to get some inspiration from people who know how to celebrate the Spring Holidays.

We’re not ruling out new Easter Dresses, or plastic colored eggs, which surely have their place. But we are searching for ways of celebrating that are more closely tied to phenomena of the Spring itself. Part of the hope is that by celebrating these holidays in a manner that becomes their time, that the other holidays of the year (namely those that occur during "the Holiday Season") won't have to bear all the burden.

Here's to a more reasonable Easter, and may it make for a more reasonable Christmas also.