NoRuz: The Persian Spring

Around the world, 300 million people

are currently celebrating the Persian festival of NoRuz.

-Happy New Year!

-Happy New Year.

It's the spring equinox,

the moment when the hours of night and day are equal,

the start of spring.

When the sun changes its equinox, it is thanking God for sunshine now,

and so let new life begin.

Tens of thousands mark the occasion in Britain, too.

My name is Shappi Khorsandi.

I was born in Iran but came to this country when I was four.

So I'm Shappi, and I'm a female Iranian stand-up comedian.

The other comics backstage - they call me the box ticker.

LAUGHTER

Now I want my son to experience NoRuz...

Whoo!

..to discover how the festival is celebrated...

We have to put seven things that start with S.

..to understand that NoRuz is an ancient festival

with roots in a faith that pre-dates Islam and Christianity.

Fire is a medium, through that we are communicating with God.

This is the first year I've thought, "I'm really going to mark this,"

because he's six now, and he'll notice and he'll remember.

-Where are we going?

-To the pet shop.

-And what are we going to buy?

-A goldfish.

We are, we're going to buy a goldfish,

because for NoRuz, the Persian New Year,

we set a special symbolic table out,

and the symbol of life on that table is a goldfish.

-What about that really sparkly one?

-You want that one?

-Just over there.

I'm a first-generation immigrant, and my son is half English.

-That giant one looks really cool.

-Yeah.

So it's quite difficult to instil in this very English child,

"This is the Persian New Year, you will care about it!"

-Hello, yes, we would like one of these fine goldfish, please.

-OK.

When we were young, my mum always made sure we celebrated NoRuz.

This ancient festival has always been popular.

In 1976, my parents moved to London,

bringing my older brother Peyvand and me with them.

But we still marked the Persian New Year.

-Thank you very much!

-You're welcome.

'In Iran, we have lots of different people

'from lots of different religions.

And regardless of religion, everyone celebrates NoRuz.

That's the festival that binds us all.

I haven't been very Iranian in the last few years,

I've sort of let it all slide,

and I guess I want to reconnect with how it's all done.

-Take care, bye-bye!

-Goodbye!

-Come on, then.

Ha-ha-ha! It is NoRuz!

This is a fish.

My mum Fatemeh and my dad Hadi

have agreed to help me show my son how to do NoRuz Iranian style.

-Think of a name, darling.

-Erm...

Goldie?

It's in here, everything's fine.

'You have your house spring-cleaned, you buy new clothes.

'Everything's got to be sparkling.'

It's all about positivity for the future.

OK, what's the first thing we've put on our haft-seen table?

-A...goldfish.

-What does the goldfish symbolise?

What does it stand for? Does it stand for death...?

-Life.

-Life!

The haft-seen table is the sort of centrepiece of the house.

Now Maman Fateh grew this from a tiny, tiny grain.

It is for everything we're putting this table,

it's symbolising from birth and reborn.

Yeah! We have eggs.

OK, you've brought hyacinths for our table.

-Yeah.

-Brilliant, just in the nick of time.

Whenever I smell them, it just makes me think of my childhood.

There are seven particular things beginning with S,

which is where the word "haft-seen" comes from - seven Ss.

-This is called samanu...

-Happy New Year!

-Happy New Year.

-This is called s...

-HE SPEAKS FARSI

Kind of a cross between marmalade and Nutella.

This is serkeh, it's vinegar.

In the ancient times, it would be wine,

but over time some people have regarded wine as inappropriate

for a haft-seen table, so we have serkeh.

Vinegar as a wine substitute which...

Some of the parties I've been to...

You cannot drink it because it is vinegar!

I just did a great joke, you interrupted my joke.

-Sorry, I didn't laugh at your joke.

-Let me...

Ha-ha-ha!

We celebrate the exact point of the spring equinox to the second.

You've got to be around the table and you all go, "Whoo-hoo",

when the clock strikes spring equinox.

The last time that we celebrated NoRuz properly

was before we went to university, my brother and I.

But we kind of grew up a bit,

and no-one knew exactly where they were going to be

around the 20th or 21st of March, so it became less of a massive deal.

I've made it traditional in my own way.

It's not as thorough

as some Iranian households' haft-seen table.

I think the ancestors will forgive just doing it

with the odd plastic apple.

So there we are.

I don't want either of my children

to feel bogged down by their heritage.

I don't want to beat them about the head and go,

"This is what your ancestors did, and you will love it!"

I think my generation didn't quite have that option, you know.

It was very much like, "You will fly the flag and carry the torch."

And it can be quite a burden, cos you feel, whenever you speak,

you feel that you're representing an entire people.

Do you know, I remember, I remember as a child,

we'd go and buy my NoRuz outfit,

and it was this sacred thing in the wardrobe

that you couldn't touch until the actual day.

And then my friends, my Iranian friends would come round

and I'd say, "Come and look at my NoRuz dress!"

They do go, "Oh, it's lovely, and my NoRuz shoes,"

and you didn't even dare touch them

because that would make them not as new.

That's what we used to get excited about - not blooming computer games.

-We used to get exci...

-You're joking.

I'm not, actually.

Monkey!

NoRuz always coincides with the spring equinox.

Each year, it takes place on March 20th or 21st.

But what exactly is the equinox?

Well, it is a precise moment, and it's all to do with the fact

that the earth is actually tilted on its axis,

which means for part of the year,

the northern hemisphere, where the UK and Iran are,

is tilted away from the sun.

We get less sunlight, the days are shorter, and that's our winter.

And then, as the earth moves constantly

in its orbit around the sun on the other side,

the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun.

And that means we have more hours of sunlight,

the days are longer, and this is the summer.

But exactly halfway between those two points, we have this point here.

And the sun is exactly over the equator,

and at that precise moment, we have the spring equinox.

And that's the second

that Iranians all over the world go, "Whoo, happy New Year."

Absolutely, that's what you're counting down to,

that moment when the sun is precisely overhead at the equator.

So how did people in ancient times

even know when the spring equinox happened

without all the fancy equipment that we have now?

In modern society, we're quite disconnected

from what's going on up there in the sky,

but for ancient cultures,

this would have been the main way you kept track of the year, really.

And so a lot of religious festivals around the world

use the motions of the sun and the moon

to mark out their calendar.

The Chinese and Hindu calendars,

and very famously the Islamic calendar uses lunar months.

And even the Christian calendar uses the motion of the moon

to work out the time of Easter.

But of course with the equinox, this is a solar event,

and many calendars also use when the sun is in a special place

to mark out moments of celebration in their calendar.

-Like the Iranian New Year.

-Absolutely.

Now when I was a kid,

I thought it was just Iranians that celebrated NoRuz.

And then a couple of, like, other Asian kids in my school

they were like "Oh, Happy NoRuz", I was like

"Oh my God, how do you know, how do you know about it?"

And as I got older, I realised that it is celebrated

by the wider Asian community.

So that's what I want to find out about...

Salom.

SHE SPEAKS FARSI

When I was growing up, the hub of our Iranian community in London

was Rostam School.

The Year Two class have got together

-and they're painting their eggs for the haft-seen table.

-Brilliant!

The school was very big on keeping up traditions.

And this army of beautiful, glamorous, wonderful Iranian women,

shepherded us children through our Iranian culture

and made sure they instilled in us, this idea

of being very comfortable with where we are from

and the way we celebrate stuff.

-I used to go this school from when I was seven years old.

-Yes.

And I was in the same class as my friend, Elholm.

-And who's Elholm?

-My mother!

-Your mother!

You look every bit as beautiful as your mum!

-Do you like Aide NoRuz?

-Yes.

-What's fun about it?

-You also get goldfish.

-And the goldfish I got last time is still alive.

-Are they still alive?

Well, you must look after your goldfish very well!

-That's what we like to hear.

-I called him Goldie.

We've bought a goldfish and I think my son's going to call him Goldie.

It would be very interesting to know how other people celebrate it

and how scattered all over Asia are pockets of people that do NoRuz.

Tell us about who celebrates NoRuz?

All countries like Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.

They all celebrate NoRuz.

Like right now in the UK, there's lots of NoRuz celebrations,

because it has a very large Iranian population as well.

Do you have any idea about the root of NoRuz?

It started in the Persian Empire, which was, like,

2,500 years ago.

It's been celebrated for a very long time.

As you can see on the map, the Persian Empire was a massive land

from today's countries like Pakistan and India to the Nile in Egypt.

The roots of NoRuz are actually not very well-known,

because it goes back so many thousand of years.

We have got specific documentation

from about 2,500 years ago when NoRuz was celebrated.

What I know about the origins and the roots of NoRuz

is that it's ancient tradition.

It comes from the Zoroastrian people.

the Zoroastrian faith that, of course, were the original Iranians.

They were Zoroastrians, which was one of the first

monotheistic religions, precedes Islam and Christianity.

Zoroastrianism was once the official religion of the Persian Empire.

But after Arab conquest in the 7th century,

many Zoroastrians left Persia.

They created a new community around Bombay or Mumbai in India,

where they were known as Persian or Parsi.

They've also been celebrating NoRuz here ever since.

I love telling my friends, "Oh, it's a Zoroastrian festival,"

cos often they thought that meant we were followers of Zorro.

I quite enjoyed not many people knowing what Zoroastrian was,

it just sounded so deathly exotic...

THEY SING

One of the best known Zoroastrians

certainly lived up to this glamorous image.

# Oh, yes

# I'm the Great Pretender

# Oooo, oooo... #

Freddie Mercury was from a Zoroastrian family.

I'll always walk around like a Persian popinjay.

That's part of me and no-one's going to stop me, honey!

# I pretend too much

# I'm lonely... #

Freddie's sister remembers how proud he was of his Persian roots.

# There must be more to life than this... #

Freddie was born Farokh Bulsara

and that name is Persian or Parsi.

And both my parents were born in Bombay.

Mum and Dad were religious.

They would do prayers every day.

THEY PRAY

And we, as a family, were very proud of being Zoroastrian.

My religion is very, very ancient Persian,

so that's why not many people have heard of it or understood it.

# I had this perfect dream... #

I think, with Freddie, what the Zoroastrian faith gave him

is to work hard, to persevere...

# Let the songs begin... #

..and to follow your dreams.

MONTSERRAT CABALLE SINGS

After Freddie's death, his family held a service here

at the Zoroastrian Centre in Harrow in London.

I think when the prayers take place and the priests

are all dressed in white and then we have the little urn with the fire,

and you concentrate on your prayers.

It just makes you feel at peace.

Near your God and it's just very special.

THEY CHANT

Zoroastrianism was founded by the prophet Zoroaster

around 1,500 years before Christ.

HE CHANTS

It's one of the earliest religions to believe in one God.

But its followers are sometimes mistaken for fire worshippers,

because of the use of fire in their rituals.

Fire does seem very central to celebrations

and to prayers, so what is the significance of fire?

Not only fire as a matter of fact, also the other natural creations,

The waters, the sky,

-the mountains...

-That's what fire would be.

-Fire would be fire would be...

-A medium, a vehicle.

Of which through that we are communicating with the Almighty,

Creator God...

In the week before NoRuz,

parents bring their children to the centre to celebrate.

And to hear the Zoroastrian story of the first NoRuz

and its hero, Jamsheed.

The story of Jamsheed is very similar to the story of Noah and the ark.

God called to him and said, "Jamsheed,

"Beware, soon evil will send a really long winter..."

NoRuz was initiated by Jamsheed after the bitter winter

which the world suffered.

It snowed and snowed, but for 40 months

Jamsheed, the people and the animals were all warm and safe

inside the cave.

So, spring is a new beginning. It is a time of happiness and joy.

The snow had melted...

Everyone slowly emerged from the cave.

The new day or NoRuz had arrived.

And that's why Zoroastrians call it Jamsheedi NoRuz to this very day.

I find this all really fascinating,

knowing that this beautiful celebration that I grew up with

and then speaking to yourself and really understanding

about these ancient traditions that in some way are so different

to the way I celebrated it, but the essence of it

is actually untouched and remains exactly the same.

It's not only Zoroastrians who mark the festival in fire.

Two days before the Equinox,

is the most exciting evening of the festival for Iranians.

And it's all about fire.

Tonight is Chaharshanbe Suri.

The favourite festival, particularly of children,

cos they get to jump over fire.

This year we're doing our own thing in the back garden.

Now, we're going to jump over fire.

-Do you know why we jump over the fire?

-No!

Well, we jump over fire, because we give the fire

all the bad feelings we might have

all the bad things that might have happened in the year,

and we just throw it in the fire and we forget about it.

And from the fire we get the light of life.

We get all the good things and all the happy things

for the rest of the year.

We say "Sorkhi-ye to az man."

That means, "Your rosiness to me."

Zardi-ye-man az to. My yellow, rubbishy feelings to you.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

-Good.

Sorkhi-ye to az man. Woooooooo!

Zardi-ye-man az to. Woohoo!

He's jumped over fire, but with an adult holding each hand

and literally, you know, kind of lifting him safely over the fire.

This year, he's six and he's quite a bold six-year-old

and I think this year might be the first year

where he has the confidence to jump over a little fire on his own.

-Would you fancy...

-Can I do it on my own?

-On your own?

-Yeah.

-Do you think you can?

-Yeah.

-Come on, then.

Very excited. Proud moment!

Sorkhi-ye to az man...

-OK, I'm going to do it.

-Let me hold your hand.

No, no, no.

-Sorkhi-ye to az man...

-I'm really scared.

-Woo!

-Hurray!

-Zardi-ye-man az to.

Good boy!

-That was your first fire jump on your own.

-I want to do it again!

NoRuz was the time of the year where

you felt that everything was happy and joyous

and everyone came together.

OK, come on, Mummy.

Sorkhi-ye to az man

Zardi-ye-man az to!

'And the spirit was just... your spirit was lifted.'

With just 24 hours to go, it's time to prepare the NoRuz feast.

Showing me how it's done is another well-known Zoroastrian

who was born in Bombay and came to this country over 20 years ago...

..TV chef Cyrus Todiwala.

I am making what we call Saev, and that's vermicelli.

So this is very Persian in its origin.

-Reshdi.

-Reshdi, you call it?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-So in goes my vermicelli, which is broken.

On NoRuz, on the day of the new year,

this is what you'll sit down and have for breakfast.

First thing in the morning. Mum would be up at 4 o'clock

making all this stuff and always get the aromas in the house,

already the cardamom, the rose,

-the vanilla's already flowing in the house, you know?

-Yeah.

Then she'd make the house pretty.

The garlands would come, there'd be garlands on every door.

The lamps would be lit, the deva,

when dad starts to pray first thing in the morning.

What we'll do, because the oil is hot, I'll just fry the nuts.

So we've got cashew nuts,

almonds, pistachios and sultanas, OK?

In my family, you're decked out in new clothes,

-everything has to be clean.

-Oh, yes.

And children get money as gifts.

Same. You might get a small envelope with a little bit of money inside.

-Yes.

-Oldest aunt would always give me just two rupees

but that two rupees meant a lot to me

and some of the envelopes I've still not torn out

with the two rupees inside. They're still with me.

In the tray in the corner there, some rosewater.

-Rosewater.

-Most important.

How much do you reckon? Go on.

Ah! Can I tell you what that smells like to me?

That smells like my grandmother's suitcase

whenever she came to visit from Iran.

Everything smelt of rosewater.

-It does.

-Oh, Granny!

-Give a squirt of it. Go on.

Right, how much shall I put in?

-That much?

-Go for it.

-Go for it?

-That's it, that's it.

-OK.

Most Iranians, regardless of their religion, they celebrate NoRuz,

so on the actual day, religion doesn't play

ever such a massive part, but for you guys,

you pray...it is about religion.

It's about both things, yes.

The Zoroastrian believes in light. Sun gives life.

When the sun changes its equinox, it is now out,

so it is thanking God for sunshine now

and so let new life begin.

So we are talking about spring, you are talking about growth,

you are talking about fresh plants in the soil, everything else.

And gratitude, you're talking about gratitude.

So it's all about that. So, madam, all done?

-Like to try some?

-Yes, please, immediately.

Shall we start with the Saev?

-Let's do it.

-OK, let's do it.

I'll bring that forward a little bit.

Oh, that's just incredible.

-Altogether.

-Oh, my goodness.

For me, it's like visiting an old friend.

It's kind of home. It's lovely.

That's actually quite nice to hear.

What really struck me talking to Cyrus

was the religious aspect of NoRuz

because for my family, religion or God doesn't really play a part

in the actual festivities as much as it does

for Parsis and Zoroastrians.

But essence of the celebration is the same.

It's about celebrating light, it's about rebirth and re-growth

and looking to the future with positivity.

It's NoRuz, get excited. Whoo-hoo!

Come on in.

'The big day has finally arrived.

'It's March the 20th and my family is gathering to celebrate NoRuz.'

Cousin Leila has come all the way from Lincoln

and she's half Iranian, like you.

'The spring equinox can happen at any point of the day or night.

'Luckily, this year it's in the afternoon.'

We need to change you out of your clothes.

Wear your fancy NoRuz clothes, I bought you some new clothes today.

-Are we going to do some Iranian dancing later?

-Maybe?

At the Zoroastrian Centre,

500 people have gathered to celebrate NoRuz.

What's been really great is

properly finding out about NoRuz

and reconnecting with what an ancient ritual it is.

And how the things people celebrated

thousands and thousands of years ago, are exactly the things,

as human beings, we want to celebrate now.

The house has been spring cleaned,

our negative thoughts have been thrown in the fire

and we're decked out in our best clothes.

We're ready to welcome in the new year.

Ah, Shaparak!

I forgot quite how Iranian we are.

There's been singing and dancing and everyone's been in a good mood.

Right, we've got 42 seconds left. 40 seconds left.

39, 38...

The moment of the equinox - 4.57 and seven seconds precisely -

is almost here.

Da, no, hash, haft, sish, han, shor,

ser, dor, yes!

Hoorah!

Happy New Year!

'Actually what we're celebrating is spring.'

Give your mother a kiss. Happy NoRuz.

Happy New Year! Love you!

And just letting go of all our worries.

We want to celebrate a new year and joy and hope.

It feels kind of beautiful to know that,

as human beings, we haven't changed at all, you know,

we still want hope and we still want re-birth.

Wiggle your hips.

I'm no longer going to treat it

as something that we did when we were children.

-Happy New Year!

-Happy New Year!

I think I'm going to do this every year. It's been lovely.