Caharshanbe Suri

Chaharshanbe suriChahar-Shanbe Suri (Wednesday Feast) is an ancient festival where Iranians celebrate the last Tuesday night of their Iranian Calender. On this night Iranians jump over bonfires, light firecrackers and eat a special nut mixture called Chahar-Shanbe Suri nuts. Also, children go to neighbors’ doors on this night while hiding their faces and hitting bowls in their hands with spoons to ask for nuts. This custom is called Ghashogh zani (hitting with spoon). The photos are taken from the celebrations in Gisha, a neighborhood in the North West of Tehran.

ChaharShanbe Sury, this year(2006), as usual was full of pleasure for my family and I. my aunt and her family, my two causins and their family+ we, gathered in my grand parents house and celebrated the longest night of the year for victory of goodness. we prepared a small fire for jumping on and telling this famouse sentence " yellowness(= sickness) of my face for you ( =fire) and redness(=freshness) of your face for me."three times while we jumping. ancient persians believed that fire has the property of cleaning everything....anyway after jumpig we left the yard ( this year we had to set fire in my grand parents yard) and ate dinner ( usually Hotdog). around 9'oclock pm we went on roof (except my grand parents) and fired sky-rockets....that was great....finally we went indoor, because my father always reads some parts of great persian poets like philosopher Ferdosi, Hafez, Sadi and Khayam for us in this night. After that untill 2 o'clock am we devided in groups ( usually according to age) ,talked and played cards and backgammon ( they are our favourite). it was accustomed that people stayed on, untill morning but todays because we should go to work or school we can't stay on until dawn!!!! at 2:00 am we left my grandparents' house as we thought about next Chahar Shanbe Suri and comming NORUZ!:)

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