Nowruz [pronounced NO-ROOZ] in Persian means "New-[year]-day".  It is the beginning of the year for the people of Iran. It is celebrated on the first day of spring. Persians also have different numbers for the years, for example 2009 is 1388. Nowruz is the most important day in the year for all who follow Zoroastrian beliefs of the Iranian ancestors.

Everybody prepares for the holiday, first people “shake their house”, which means they clean them top to bottom, then they buy new clothes and hyacinths and tulips to put in their homes.

At Nowruz we always visit our family and they visit us in return, we exchange presents. Mum always has lots of pasties, cookies, sweets, dried fruit and most of all nuts to treat the guests, we make tea and sherbet for them to drink. We believe that if you are good and kind to family and friends at Nowruz then the year will be a good one, if there are arguments and fights in the family –the year will be most likely bad. Haft Sin  or the seven 'S's is a major tradition of Nowruz. The Haft Sin items are:

• Wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish - symbolizing rebirth
• a sweet pudding made from wheat germ- symbolizing affluence
• the dried fruit of the oleaster tree - symbolizing love
• garlic- symbolizing medicine
• apples- symbolizing beauty and health
• sumac berries - symbolizing (the color of) sunrise
• vinegar- symbolizing age and patience

We do not have Santa, our traditional Nowruz character is called Hadji Firuz. He symbolizes the rebirth of the Sumerian god of sacrifice, Domuzi, who was killed at the end of each year and reborn at the beginning of the New Year. He usually uses face paint to make his skin black (black is an ancient Persian symbol of good luck) and wears a red costume.

Food is very important in time of Nowruz, all women cook the traditional dishes like

• rice with green herbs like parsley, coriander, chives, dill and fenugreek, which we serve with fish.
•  rice cooked with noodles.
• Stuffed vine leaves
• Herbs and vegetable soufflé, this is a light and fluffy omelet made from parsley, dill, coriander, spinach, spring onion and chives, mixed with eggs and walnut.

My favourite Nowruz tradition is when we go out and make a big fire, which we have to jump over.