KARACHI: The world woke up to Nauroz, the Persian new year, with the Google Doodle of fresh flowers — tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and bee orchids — blooming in spring, giving new hope, the thought of rebirth, and making a fresh start.

This year, Nauroz celebrations began at exactly 2:24am on Tuesday, which was the time of the spring equinox.

Throughout the world, Nauroz is celebrated by many ethnicities, although many identify the annual celebration of the spring equinox with the Zoroastrian or Parsi calendar. Actually, the Parsis, or rather Parsis of Persian or Iranian descent, celebrate this festival in their customary way by setting a very special table that, among other things, must have seven essential elements all beginning with the letter ‘S’

These are wheatgrass sprouted and grown in a tray or bowl a few before hand, which is called sabzeh, a pudding prepared with soft wheat, which is known as samanu, saib or an apple, sirka or vinegar, senjed, which is another name for dried fruit, seer, meaning garlic (garlic) and sikah, meaning coins.

Other items on the traditional table include a mirror, a gold fish in a glass bowl, decorated hard boiled eggs, grains and lentils, sweetmeats, salt, a candle or lamp and whatever else they’d like to put there, which you wish to enjoy throughout the year. It’s all for ushering in a new year and sharing good tidings. The coins and the gold fish are for hoping for a prosperous year and the mirror to reflect happiness.

Other Parsis, who don’t really follow the table-setting tradition, also celebrate. Many go out for dinner or hold dinner parties at their places.

Nauroz is also observed by Ismalis community. For Ismailis also the time signifies renewal of life. There are prayers of gratitude offered for God Almighty’s blessings with the hope for a good life in this world and the hereafter.

The Baha’is, a small community in Pakistan, also celebrate Nauroz as a festival. The day, according to the Bahai faith, marks the end of the 19-day fasting.

“So it brings a warm, diverse and fascinating group of people together to eat with one another, celebrate, enjoy each other’s company and truly welcome the exciting, unlimited possibilities of a new year,” Fahad Al Masraqi, a representative of the community, shared with Dawn.

“Nouroz has been celebrated by people from diverse ethnic communities and religious backgrounds for thousands of years since it signifies a new beginning,” said Imam Allama Muhammad Ahsan Siddiqui, the ambassador at large for global peace and human rights and the chairman of the interfaith commission for peace and harmony.

In a statement, he congratulated all the faiths celebrating Nauroz around the world.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2023