Nowruz

Persian New Year is called Nowruz. It means ‘a new day’.
It starts on 21st March at exactly the time when the day is as long as the night in spring.
We call this time the spring equinox. People in Iran, Afghanistan,
Tajikistan and a few other countries celebrate Nowruz. It’s 13 days long. During this period,
people visit their family and friends and travel. On the first day of Nowruz,
families gather around a table with seven foods or things that start with the sound ‘s’ in the Persian language.
It’s called the Haft-sin table. At the time of the New Year, they celebrate by praying for a good new year,
and then they leave their homes to visit the older family members, like grandparents.
The older family members give gifts and money to the younger ones and wish them luck.
On the thirteenth day of Nowruz, families go out and have picnics in nature.
Some believe that this changes bad luck to good luck in the new year.