Norouz at Pars Market Columbia, MD

What is Norouz (Iranian / Persian New Year)?

Hello everyone, in this blog I am going to introduce you about Persian New Year! Etymologically speaking, “no” means “new” in Persian, and “rouz” or “ruz” means “day”.
So, “Norouz” marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (the start of spring in the northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed.
As most of you probably know, in this year 2013 we are approaching the Persian New Year March 20th on Wednesday 7:00 AM (Eastern Time) which is called Norouz.

 The term Norouz first appeared in Persian records in the second century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids (c. 648-330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian empire used to bring gifts to the emperor (Shahanshah) of Persia on Norouz. For a couple of thousands of years, the Iranians have been celebrating this period with different kinds of celebrations and festivals.

The old year ends with a fire festival on the last Wednesday of the year. The last Wednesday of each year is called Chahaar Shanbeh Suri when people build fire all around the country and start singing, dancing around the fire, and jumping over the fire in different happy groups. One of the most common chants during this fire game is singing to the fire while jumping over it. People in groups sing, “May my yellowness go to you, and your redness come to me!!”. This ceremony has a religious background that goes back to Zoroaster who introduced fire as a cleansing and purifying element on the globe, which removes all kind of uncleanness from the earth. So, fire is regarded as Holy. Through this ceremony, people, symbolically, burn their old year’s weaknesses, sins, bad habits, and even their misfortunes with the hope of starting a new and fresh life in the coming New Year.
Then, people start painting their house, washing all their cloths as well as their carpets and whatsoever they use at home to keep them clean for the New Year. They, also, put some wheat on a plate and grow it green for some two weeks.
Then, it is the first day of spring or Norouz. On this day, people start the day with visiting their older parents, relatives, neighbors, and friends. In each house, you will find special garment known as Sofreh on which are a small red fish in a jar, different kinds of chocolates, seasonal snacks, and seven traditional things that start with “S”. Generally, people serve fish on this day.

Google logo on Nowrouz

For two weeks, people enjoy visiting relatives and traveling to different cities to have fun. On the evening of 13th day, the New Year holiday finishes with another ceremony. This day is called “Sizdah Bedar” when almost everybody should spend their time outside their house in a barbeque, in parks, mountains, or even in cinema! At the end of the day, they take the wheat in a plate, which is grown up and green by now, to a river or simply to some water if river is not accessible. Then, they throw the green wheat in water and pick up 13 small stones. They throw the stones one after another into the water, sing another song, and wish to end this year and start next year more successfully and happily.

Nowrouz Haft -sin, At Pars Market we carry all these in our store

At Pars Market we take Persian new year seriously and carry full line of your needs for it, such as Painting Eggs, Sabzeh, Samanoo, Sumac, All the Pastry such as Chickpea Cookies, Persian Baklava, Mixed Cookies and so many more in the list, From now on I focus on describing every product we will carry at Pars Market during the Nowrouz! follow us on here to read more about unique and amazing line of products we will have during these wonderful days!  

 I hope you enjoyed this brief explanation of our Persian new year.

Once more, We already wish you all a very happy Norouz and a wonderful Persian new year coming ahead!



PARS MARKET LLC

9400 SNOWDEN RIVER PARKWAY # 109
COLUMBIA, MD, 21045

443-259-0002

http://www.parsmarketcolumbia.com/

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