Haftseen

Below is a picture showing a traditional sorfeh yeh haftseen, or table cloth of the seven s's. In most Persian households today, the amount of each item on the haftseen can be multiplied by tenfold, but my grandmother wanted to show me how it has traditionally been done throughout Persian history, dating back more than 7,000 years. The reason we call this the table cloth of seven s's, or haftseen is because there are seven essential items that must be placed on the table, and all of their names in Farsi begin with "s." The seven s's are as follows: saman (wheat), samaneh (wheat pudding), somagh (Persian spice, usually used with dry rice and kabobs), sekeh (coins), serrkeh (vinegar), seeb (apples), and seer (garlic). All of the names of these items begin with "s" in Farsi, and there are seven of them. In addition, we place a goldfish and a mirror behind it for good luck. Also pictured are colored eggs for the children, and a candle of a mouse because it is the year of the mouse. You'll also notice that the candle is already burning and in the upper left hand corner there are some Persian pastries that have already been "dug in" to. This picture was taken about a half hour after the new year began. For some reason, the new year has also been made into a heavily religious occasion, which it traditionally has not been. You'll notice that there is a Koran in the picture as well. Instead, in its place, there should be a book of poems by one of the famous ancient Persian poets, Hafez or Sa'di. Even during our celebrations later that day, I noticed that everyone was very religious. We should have been reading Persian poetry instead of reciting lines from the Koran. That's just my personal opinion and at the end of the day, it's just one man's opinion.

All in all, I must say it was an incredibly great experience, being able to see the Persian New Year from Iran. We had company from early in the morning just after the turn of the New Year till probably 11PM in the evening. To say that I was pretty tired by the end of the day from all of the celebrations would be an understatement, but I truly did enjoy this experience. I can only hope that I'll be able to experience the New Year here in Iran again in the near future.