Norouz Let's Celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great

# To celebrate! #

Hello! Welcome to Number 22. I'm Thomas Ticker.

I seem to have made a bit of a mess today.

I can't find my glasses.

I know I had them recently, but I can't remember where I put them.

Oh, well, never mind.

The wonderful celebration today is called Norouz.

Norouz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the year

in the Iranian calendar.

It's celebrated by Zoroastrians

and I've got two friends who want to tell you all about it.

I'm Berzin!

And I'm Benaifar.

Together, we are getting ready for a special celebration called Norouz!

'We are Perthes Zoroastrians.

'Norouz means "new day" in Persian.

'It celebrates the first day of our new year

'and the first day of spring.'

Off you go and clean your rooms, then.

I don't usually like tidying up my bedroom,

but we're getting ready for Norouz and I just don't mind.

'It is very important to start the new year very clean and tidy.

'So we are helping our mum to give the house a good spring clean.'

Dusty, dusty, dusty!

Now it is time to make my bed.

I'd better go and help clean downstairs.

GIGGLING

Come on. If you've finished cleaning, we'll go now.

OK.

Let's go.

I can't wait. I'm so excited to see my friends.

'It's time to go and see our friends at the Zoroastrian Centre now.

'This is where we come to celebrate Norouz in a couple of weeks.'

The first thing we are going to do

is go up and pray with our friends. Come on!

'There are three things that we must do before we go inside.

'We must take off our shoes...

'..we must wash our hands...

'..and we must cover our heads.'

We're going up to the prayer room now.

'We are saying

'a special prayer.'

THEY PRAY ALOUD IN UNISON

LADY: OK, everybody, bow down.

'We're putting a special ash on our foreheads.

'This is a special blessing.'

LADY: Well done.

Spring is a time when nature comes alive.

Flowers and trees blossom.

'One things we do to celebrate this is growing wheat or lentil seeds.'

We are making special things to go on the table.

It is called the haft seen table.

We plant lentil seeds that will grow into a plant.

Then, we will put that on the table.

'We plant the seeds two weeks before Norouz.'

'These seeds have been soaking in water for two days,

'to bring them to life.'

'Then, we take these pieces of cloth and make them all wet in the water.'

'Then, we cover up the seeds with the wet cloth.'

Now, my seeds are planted.

I'm so excited by Norouz, my plant might be this big.

'We are now going to paint and decorate some eggs

'to put on the haft seen table now.'

I'm going to paint

a rainbow, a butterfly and a flower on my egg.

'When we see the eggs on the haft seen table,

'they help us to remember nature and life, all around us.'

'I can't wait to see what my mum thinks

'when my egg's on the haft seen table.'

Look at my pink butterfly.

My egg is really messy and colourful.

My egg's finished.

There we are. All done.

'See you soon for our Norouz celebrations.'

Eugh! That all looked very messy!

But my house isn't messy anymore. Ta-da!

I copied Berzin and Benaifar and tidied my room.

Well, when I say "tidied", I mean,

I put everything here on the table and it's...

Oh.

Well, I suppose I'd better tidy up properly.

While I do this, there is a great story that is heard at Norouz.

# Celebrate! #

One day, a kind shepherd, called Jamshed, was herding his flock,

when God called to him and said,

"Jamshed, beware.

"Soon, evil will send a really long winter and a heavy snowstorm

"that will kill all the people,

"animals, birds and plants in the world. I need you to help me."

When Jamshed heard God's plan,

he found a large cave

and searched far and wide for people to take inside.

He found animals of every kind and gathered plants and seeds,

putting them in large sacks and took everything to the cave,

where he lit a fire and waited.

The following day, dark clouds appeared in the sky

and covered the sun.

Soon, snow began to fall.

It kept snowing, until everywhere -

mountains, forests and even deserts - were covered with snow.

But for 40 months, Jamshed, the people and the animals

were all warm and safe inside the cave.

Then, one morning, Jamshed took one of the white doves

and let it out of the cave.

It flew around,

but finding nowhere to land, it returned to the cave.

A few days later, the dove was released again,

but once more, there was nowhere for the dove to land.

A few more days passed and, this time, when Jamshed released the dove,

it didn't come back.

The snow had melted.

Everyone slowly emerged from the cave.

Jamshed and the people gave thanks to God

for helping them survive the harsh winter.

The new day, or "norouz", had arrived

and that's why Zoroastrians call it

Jamshedi Norouz to this very day.

# It's great to celebrate! #

Isn't that a great story?

Imagine it snowing for months and months.

You'd forget what colour the grass was!

I've tidied up now.

Still haven't found my glasses, but I did find this chalk.

Got a bit arty and drawn a message for Berzin.

Happy New Year! Ha-ha!

And Berzin is using chalks,

to make some special patterns for Norouz. Shall we see?

BOTH: Happy Norouz!

On the morning of Norouz, we put chalk outside.

This chalk will bring us lots of good luck for the new year.

MUM: That's it. That's it!

I'm putting purple chalk onto the flowers.

Right, on this side.

That's it.

Our patterns are really colourful.

-One, two, three!

-OK, next one.

I'm putting orange on it.

This says, "Happy New Year", because it's our new year today.

My pattern's finished!

Well done, you two!

Mummy's going to get our new clothes. I'm so excited.

We've got new clothes!

That's for you.

Not only is it important to have a nice clean house for Norouz,

it's also tradition to wear new clothes.

Look at my new top and my new trousers!

I'm going to look very smart in this.

look at my new dress!

Do you remember the wheat seeds that we planted?

Look how much they've grown!

I'm taking it to put on the haft seen table.

'We've arrived at Granny and Granddad's house.'

CHILDREN: Hello!

Happy Norouz!

-How are you?

-Nice to see you.

'My granny is putting a mark on our foreheads.

'This is called a tili.'

'My granny is putting a garland around our necks.'

There's your little pressie.

Thank you.

Happy Norouz.

Happy Norouz, Granny.

-Thank you.

-And Norouz Mobarak.

Thank you.

We are watching the haft seen table being laid.

'Lots of special items are being put on this table.

'Lots of them are to do with nature

'and make us remember life all around us.'

And our plants are going to be put on, too.

Look, there's a picture of a fish.

It makes up think about animals.

The nuts make us thankful for the food we eat.

Our painted eggs are going to be put onto the haft seen table.

BOTH: Mummy, Mummy!

Come and look at our eggs on the haft seen table.

Wow!

-And our plants.

-Which one is yours?

-This one's mine.

-Wow!

-This one's mine.

-Your plants. Well done.

It has grown, hasn't it? It looks lovely.

Well done!

Before our celebrations begin,

we have to go and say our prayers in the Fire Temple.

'The fire burns in that big urn all the time.

'It reminds us of God's light.'

'Can you see the priest putting the sandalwood on the fire?'

'Zoroastrian priests wear special white clothes.'

Now, it's time to join everyone else,

for a big prayer ceremony, the Jashan, where they say

thank you for lots of things.

'I've got a really special job - to give the priest some sandalwood.'

There is a lot of people around for the celebration now.

Look at their new outfits.

'I love dancing.'

'I like playing with my friends.'

'The food is yummy.'

'We are having so much fun.'

It's great to celebrate!

CHEERING

# It's great to celebrate. #

Thanks, Berzin.

I really enjoyed that.

I still haven't found my glas...

There they are.

Have they been here the whole time?

Why didn't you tell me, Sprocket?

Where can I put them?

I'll put them up here, so I won't forget them.

Now, it's time to go outside for my own street party. Hey-hey!

# I can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# I can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# I can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# I can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# We're so excited cos it's going to be

# A party time for all our friends and family

# We're getting ready We'll have so much fun

# So come and join in - everyone!

-# Cos it's time for us to celebrate

-It's great to celebrate

-# Now it's time for us to celebrate

-It's great to celebrate

-# Cos today is such a special day

-It's great to celebrate

# And it's time for you and me to celebrate

# To celebrate

-# Time for us to celebrate

-Can't wait to celebrate

-# Now it's time for you and me

-It's great to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate. #