Leaping over the fire
On the last Tuesday evening of the Persian year, people light small bonfires in streets, parks and yards, and one by one jump over them, singing:
زردی من از تو، سرخی تو از من
“My yellowness to you, your redness to me.” The fire takes away the pale sickness of winter and gives back its warm, healthy glow, so everyone starts the new year strong.
Spoons and nuts
Children cover themselves with sheets or chadors and go from door to door banging spoons on bowls, qashoq-zani, and are given treats, much like trick-or-treating. Families share ajil-e moshkel-gosha, the “problem-solving” mix of nuts and dried fruit, in the hope that the year’s difficulties will be solved. Today diaspora communities from Los Angeles to Vancouver light fires on beaches and in parks.
