What is the holiday of Norous? Where is it celebrated? When is it celebrated? And what are the traditions and customs that make this holiday unique? We'll learn the answers to these questions and many more in today's episode, What is Norus? Welcome to Wiser World, a podcast for busy people who need a refresher on all things world.
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In the northern hemisphere, the first day of spring is also called the vernal equinox, and it typically falls on March 20th or March 21st every year. People all around the world love the coming of spring. There's just something really gratifying. about the end of winter, and over 300 million people around the world celebrate this arrival of spring with the holiday of Noruz. Noruz is also sometimes called Persian New Year.
And I loved learning about this holiday. There's so much history and depth to it. And I think you're going to love learning about it in this episode. I want to say that I made this episode specifically for people who know little to nothing about this holiday and want a foundational, basic education that they can build on. I myself did not grow up celebrating Noruz, but I did use a lot of primary sources in the...
materials I use to research for this just like I would if I was back teaching in a classroom. I also do my very best with pronunciation of words that are not my native English, so have some grace with me. I'm sure I'll make a mistake or two.
but I'm doing my best. I really want to pronounce things correctly. And as always, I always have additional resources for all my episodes. If you want to learn further about this topic, you can support on Patreon. You can sign up for that at patreon.com slash wiserworldpodcast. Norus. Let's get into this. All right. The word Norus means new day in the language of Farsi, which is also sometimes called Persian.
This is a language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, as well as countries where there are Persian communities, right? If you've listened to my three-part 101 series on Iran, you might remember that we talked about Persia. But in case you haven't listened to that one yet, or you've just forgotten, that's totally fine. There's some really ancient history here. Since Noruz is also called Persian New Year, we really got to dive into Persian history for just a second.
So before Iran was known to the world as Iran, as it is today, it was called Persia by most people until like 1935. So not that long ago. In fact, many Iranians or people who live in Iran also consider themselves Persian. This can be kind of confusing. Modern Iran, like the Iran of today, has a lot of different ethnic and tribal groups of people living within its borders. But the majority of Iranians can trace their family lineage
through the Persian Empire, through Persia. So a person is called Iranian if they're from modern Iran, as in that's their nationality, but they might also consider themselves ethnically Persian. Like they can be both. Since modern-day Iran is a lot of what the Persian Empire used to be, Persian food or Persian culture is often...
synonymous or equal with Iran. So a lot of times people interchangeably use Persian and Iranian. But anyway, it can get kind of confusing, but more or less in this episode, I'm kind of going to use them interchangeably. It is believed that the Persian Empire began roughly 4,000 years ago when people migrated from Central Asia and India into that region. And Persia truly unified under a man called Cyrus the Great, close to 600 BC.
So again, this is really old history. In fact, Cyrus is the one who named the region Persia. Today, he's remembered for all of his conquests, also because he was relatively gentle with his subjects. For example, you can read about Cyrus in the Bible when he allowed the Jews to build a temple in Jerusalem, for example. If you know the Daniel... Daniel and the lion's den story. Daniel served King Darius, who was Persian. So again, very ancient place that existed.
At the same time as the Romans, the Greeks, Persia conquered many places and endured invasions from many powerful empires as well. We're not going to go into that history, but what I think is most important for you to know is that Persian history is... very, very old, and as a result, many of the world's most ancient and beautiful traditions have Persian roots or have Persian influence. And the festival, the celebration of Norus, is almost as old as the
Persian Empire itself. From what we know, Noruz became an official state holiday as early as 500 BC, and it was definitely practiced long before that. So this might be one of the oldest holidays still practiced. Before the religion of Islam... which is one of the most popular religions in that region now. Before Islam came around, there was a religion called Zoroastrianism, a very ancient religion that is believed to have started with a prophet named Zoroastrianism.
He lived in Persia, or modern-day Iran, and began to teach about how to live a good and happy life. And one of the most prominent teachings in Zoroastrianism is the concept of two powerful forces in the world. that struggle against each other, good and evil. light, and darkness. And Zoroaster focused on following a path of goodness with good choices, focusing on the good, the light. And Norus, or New Day, right, is a festival marking the triumph of spring.
over the darkness of winter. Again, it's always celebrated on the vernal equinox. Again, that's usually March 20th or March 21st. Day and night are of equal length on this day. So the symbolism is pretty special there. Over thousands of years of celebrating, Norus has evolved over the years, right? That's just going to happen. It incorporates many different elements from different cultures. Because you remember, again, the Persian Empire was very large and had enormous...
influence at various points in history. And as a result of this, Noruz is celebrated in many different places and communities, pretty much anywhere that has been heavily influenced by Persian culture, like Iran, Iraq. India, Afghanistan, a lot of Central Asia, like Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan. I could go on and on. There's multiple countries that celebrate Noruz, largely because this tradition spread along the Silk Road. The Silk Road...
was a huge trade network that stretched from East Asia all the way into the Middle East and even part of Europe. And it was around a very, very long time, like second century BC until 15th century. So this... This holiday has been spread through multiple countries, multiple regions over. thousands of years. And while Zoroastrianism is still a religion practiced today, Norus is mostly not seen as a religious celebration anymore. It's mostly morphed into a...
mostly secular holiday that has managed to stay alive despite the fact that in some or many of these countries that celebrate it, Islam is the primary religion. And Noruz is not an Islamic religious holiday.
In some countries, Noroos has evolved to incorporate some Islamic elements to it. But overall, it's a pretty unifying holiday for a variety of ethnicities and beliefs. And as an article in the Middle East, I said, quote, centuries of conquests from the 7th and 8th century Arab forces, which invaded the Persian world, to governments in the former Soviet republics in Central Asia, from the Taliban in Afghanistan to secular authorities in Turkey.
Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, which have tried to curtail Kurdish cultural identity, end of quote. So talk about a holiday that has survived a lot of changes, right? A lot has happened in history, and Noruz has continued to be a holiday that a lot of people celebrate. So let's talk about, like, let's pretend that Noruz is today, and you want to know, okay, what do people do on this holiday? What are the traditions? What makes it unique? What...
makes it special, right? Obviously, Norus is not going to be exactly the same in every country, culture, family, but I'm going to share here some of the most common traditions in Iran. But feel free to look up any country you're interested in to see more Noroos traditions if you'd like. I will add a little bit about the other countries, but we're mostly going to cover Iranian traditions.
In many countries, Noruz begins on March 20th or 21st, which is kind of the main day of the celebration and marks the first day of the new year. However, celebrations then last for up to... two weeks afterwards. It's roughly 13 days, depending on where you live. And leading up to Nehruz, one of the most common traditions is to clean your house, which symbolizes welcoming in a new year with a fresh start and also purification.
I really love how similar this tradition is to Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year, all around the world, even before different cultures. knew each other, they did similar things, right? They cleaned the house. Spring cleaning has been a thing for thousands of years. We have way more in common with each other than we think.
And people also like to buy new clothes and decorate their homes around this time. People like to use bright and colorful things to celebrate Nourous. Colors like red, green, gold, and white are often used. they represent joy, renewal, and purity. I love this part. There are fresh flowers like hyacinths, daffodils, tulips.
These fresh flowers symbolize spring and new life. People love to have those on the table in the house. And people also decorate their tables and homes with some more symbols that I'm going to explain in just a second. Just like most major holidays around the world.
Food is a big deal when it comes to Noruz. And getting together with family and friends is a central theme. So, of course, there's going to be a feast. Typically, people gather wherever the oldest member of their family lives. There is a tradition. table setting for Neruz called the half scene.
This tradition is likely a bit newer. Historians don't know how old it is, but it's likely only been around for a century or two. It's not thousands and thousands of years old. But this traditional table setting is really, really important in Norut.
and the families gather together around the table and it has seven symbolic items. Seven is considered a lucky number and every item... on the Hafstein table begins with the Persian letter S. Again, the table is usually decorated with bright colors celebrating spring, and each of these items is a symbol.
for a quality that people want or they desire. So it's kind of like setting a table with all of the hope for the year ahead, which I think is really beautiful. So let's get into these seven symbolic items, shall we? All right. So the first one is an apple, and this is called SEEB, S-E-E-B. And this apple represents youth and beauty. That's something we all want, right? All right. So that's number one is SEEB or the apple.
Number two is seer or a head of garlic. So seer is spelled S-E-E-R. For those of you who need to visualize that in your head, that's a head of garlic and that represents good health. The third thing is cerque. This is vinegar. And that represents patience. The fourth item is sambal, which is a hyacinth. This is a type of flower, and that represents spring. The fifth item is Samanu, and that is a sweet pudding that represents fertility. The sixth item is Sabze.
S-A-B-Z-E-H. This is really important. This is sprouts. I'm going to talk a little bit more about how they do this in a second, but sabzeh is sprouts and that represents new birth. And the seventh... item is seke, and that is coins, and it represents... prosperity, right? That makes sense. So the seven items, an apple, garlic, vinegar, hyacinth, that's a flower, sweet pudding, sprouts, and
coins. One thing to note about the savse or the sprouts, which is usually wheatgrass or barley sprouts, mung bean sprouts, lentil sprouts, is they have to be grown in a dish in advance. So families have... to prepare long before this half-seen meal to have the sprouts ready, right? Some people like to put other things on the table that start with S, like the spice sumac, which symbolizes sunrise, or senjid, which is the dried fruit of the lotus tree. This symbolizes love.
It's also not uncommon to see a mirror on the Hafstein table. The mirror symbolizes self-reflection, also symbolizes looking forward into the future. A lot of people like to put candles on the table. This symbolizes in light. Enlightenment, as well as a book, an important book to the family. A lot of people, if they are Muslim, they will put the Quran or the Holy Book of Islam on the table.
people will put a poetry book. Persia has produced some of the most incredible poets to ever live. One of the most popular books to put on the Hafstein table is written by the Persian poet Hafez. I think that's a beautiful tradition to have poetry on the table, personally. Some families also like to put a live goldfish in a bowl on the table, which is a symbol of life. It's actually common for families to release the gold.
fish into the wild after the ceremony. The goldfish rarely survives this ordeal, so recently some families I read about have started doing alternatives like making goldfish-shaped dishes instead. But live goldfish... Very popular on the half scene table. History never says goodbye. It just says, see you later. Edward Galeano was right when he said that. Events keep happening over and over again in some form. And that's the reason I produce the podcast My History Can Beat Up Your Politics.
What is it? We take stories of history and apply them to the events of today to help you perhaps understand them better. We are also part of Airwave Media Network. I've been doing the program since 2006. That's a long time, and the show has a long name. My history can beat up your politics. Find me wherever you get podcasts.
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All right, now that we've talked about the half-scene table setting, let's talk about the food, the actual feast of Noruz. Every family is going to do this a little bit differently, but some of the most common choices across the board... were fish and herbed rice, and herbed frittata. I'm noticing Clearly, Persian cooking has a lot of fresh herbs. Sabzeh, that's the word for fresh herbs. Mint, basil, tarragon, just lots of herbs in their food. Just amazing. I love that.
Also, there's a thick green soup with noodles, chickpeas, and beans. There's lamb and potato patties. There's also a tomato, cucumber, red onion salad. Noodle dishes, really common. Fresh walnuts are also often on the table. Flatbread, sometimes paneer, which is a hard cheese. Fresh fruits, dried fruits, nuts. all on the table shared throughout the entire holiday. I love how similar that is to Diwali. I have an episode on...
Diwali, which originated in India, sharing dried fruits and nuts is also really common there. So I just love seeing the commonalities between these holidays. Eggs are also a big deal. If you remember from last year, I did an episode on Easter traditions in Europe. And across the board, across the whole world, eggs are a symbol of fertility.
Pretty much everywhere. And it's no different here. Painted eggs are very popular to eat and are also used as a decoration during Norus. People all around the world love to eat. eggs in the spring. And of course, we got to talk about sweets really quick. We've got these little saffron chickpea cookies, as well as white rice cookies.
Usually have rose water with them and they're sprinkled with poppy seeds. We've got a Persian honey brittle that has these pistachio nut slivers in it. And of course, Iranian pistachio baklava. This is a common treat. I think a beautiful way to honor traditions that are not necessarily your own or that you...
you know, you didn't grow up with is to make the food. I think it's a simple way to show interest in cultures that are not necessarily your own. And that's my own personal opinion. But I think this year I'm going to try. to make the pistachio baklava because that sounds delicious to me. I love baklava. Anyway, we got to stop talking about food because it's making me very hungry. So we've talked about the food.
We've talked about cleaning house, visiting family and friends. We've got wearing new clothes. But it's also common to give gifts at Noru's. Typically people give flowers, pastries, sweets, sometimes money. And you can see that this is a huge deal. One of the biggest holidays of the year, if not the biggest holiday of the year, depending. So children really look forward to it.
And there's one traditional and iconic character that announces the arrival of the New Year, especially in Iran. He comes from Iranian folklore, and that is the Haji Firous. This is a person who wears bright red clothing, plays the tambourine. And... Kind of dances around, sings and dances in the streets, welcoming in the new year. Sometimes there's a group of musicians and performers along with him. And the Haji Feroos has a face that is blackened. Nowadays, the Haji Feroos...
blacken their faces with shoe polish or soot mixed with fat. Back in the day, charcoal was used. No one really knows quite why this is. It's likely that the Haji Firous was once a black slave who entertained during the Sassanid period. which was roughly like 224 to 651 AD. During the 1800s, roughly 2 million Black slaves were brought to Iran from Africa as part of the Indian Ocean slave trade. So that could also be part of the story. Some people say... the blackened face.
is a symbol of the end of the hardship of the winter, bringing in the bright light ahead. Again, I couldn't really figure out exactly why that was. But ultimately, the haji ferus symbolizes, the symbol is one of joy and happiness. and welcoming in the Noruz celebrations. So I thought that was really interesting. Another tradition of Noruz is that some celebrate fire jumping or...
Some people call it the festival of fire. This happens in the days leading up to the holiday, usually in the evening of the last Wednesday before Noruz. People will light bonfires in public spaces. in groups of family and friends, they'll jump over the flames and they say a special chant that says, give me your red color, take my yellow color. The idea is that the fire takes away the yellow sickness, like a sickness is a...
Yellow is a symbol for sickness and gives back the red of warmth and health. So kind of discard the misfortune of last year, purify the spirit for the upcoming year. And people share a meal together, often have dances together. Sometimes people light fireworks around this time, too. In the 13 days following Noruz, people will visit family and friends. They'll go to festivals. They'll travel. In many Central Asian countries, there's also...
big open air festivals that have different traditions in sports like horse racing or wrestling or archery. In Afghanistan, they have a national sport that's pretty similar to polo. They have these big tournaments where a goat carcass is used instead. of a ball. And then on the final day, that 13th day, most people spend the day outside going on a picnic. This is because 13 is considered an unlucky number, so it's best to be outside. Families will take
Those sprouts that were on the half-seen table, the sabze, they've grown those sprouts. They'll take them on this picnic and they'll throw them into flowing water. And this is a symbol for letting go of the bad from the year before. and moving ahead to the future. Schools and offices open after this final day, and Noru's celebrations are officially over. But what a remarkable holiday. I love...
hearing all of the unique traditions, making connections to traditions all around the world. There are so many similarities here with other spring festivals and yet a lot of unique things as well. Whenever I start to think, you know, we're all getting too divided and I get depressed about it.
I researched a holiday and I realized, you know, we're a lot more similar to each other than we think we are. I love how the Persians, the Central Asians, the Middle Eastern countries, the peoples who celebrate Norus. I love the themes of renewal, of hope, of community, of family and friends. It's very inspiring to me. And if you are celebrating Noruz this year, Noruz Mubarak. which I hope hopefully pronounced that correctly. That means happy.
New Year to you. I hope you enjoyed learning about this holiday as much as I did making it. And if you learned anything, please consider sharing it with someone through a text or social media. You also could leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or your favorite app. This really helps me a lot. It helps people to find the podcast, the higher the ratings.
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