During the Nowruz visits, apart from the staples of tea and fruit, other traditional items are offered: several kinds of pastries, sometimes homemade, but nowadays mostly shop-bought; candies or chocolates; and a mixture of seeds and nuts containing pistachios, almonds, dried chickpeas, pumpkin, watermelon seeds, and other nuts. All of these, and sometimes more, will be pressed upon you during a Nowruz visit, so you will need a lot of stamina (to keep refusing) or a strong stomach, or both. The New Year feast ends on the thirteenth day, when Iranians go on a picnic. Margaret Shaida in The Legendary Cuisine of Persia writes that many Iranians believe that the sabzeh (lentil or wheat sprouts), which has begun to wither by this time, attracts the devil’s attention, so it is cast away in running water on this day, thus exorcising the evil. On the following day, everyday life resumes its normal rhythm again (Source: Among Iranians).
Sofreh Haft Sin: Symbolic Table for Nowruz and Beauties of New Year in Iran
