Mehregan

In Episode #51, co-hosts Beata and Bita share about an old Persian (and Zorastrian) holiday they did not grow up celebrating personally but are excited and interested in sharing about and starting to participate in.

Main tenets of Mehregan

• Celebrated in the fall as a Persian Festival of Autumn - anywhere falling between early to mid October...this year it will be on Oct. 2nd or 3rd, 2021 in the U.S.
• Thankfulness, gratitude, abundance - Give to nature and it will give back to you
• A time to shower each other with kindness and with love
• Light over darkness; good over evil

Sofreh items for Mehregan

• A purple or violet fabric used as a table cloth or place setting for the symbolic items
• Mirror
• Candles
• Fruit
• • Apples, pomegranate, grapes
• Nuts
• Esfand
• Holy book or other book of poetry
• Sweets

Traditions

• Gather around the sofreh and drink Tokhmeh sharbat (drink made with water and basil seeds)
• Shower each other with lotus seeds or marjoram - symbolic for showering each other with love and kindness

Resources and recipes from this episode:

Cover image of Sofre Mehregan used with permission from the book Mehregan with my Grandmother by Anahita Tamaddon available at: https://www.amazon.com/Mehregan-My-Grandma-English-Persian/dp/B09DJ3L97S

Reference to illustrated copy of the Shahnameh by Hamid Rahmanian at: https://kingorama.com

All Modern Persian Food episodes can be found at: Episodes

Co-host Beata Nazem Kelley blog: BeatsEats – Persian Girl Desperately Addicted to Food!

Co-host Bita Arabian blog: Oven Hug - Healthy Persian Recipes | Modern Persian Recipes

Podcast production by Alvarez Audio