In March, we celebrated Nowruz. One of the children in our class celebrates at home with her family and the family wanted to do something special for our classroom so that we could celebrate with them.
The family brought in a Sofreh Haft-Seen platter for our classroom. As part of the celebration, we also created some of the items out of clay to make our own platter.
Sofreh Haft-Seen
Symbols of the Iranian New Year
Nowruz or “new day” in Persian, celebrates spring’s arrival and the rebirth of nature. On Nowruz, families who celebrate often do a countdown to spring, similar to how we do a countdown to the new year on New Year’s Eve.
This year Nowruz/Spring officially started at 5:01 AM on March 20, 2025.
Haft-Seen literally means Seven S’ in Persian. It refers to seven symbolic items put on the Nowruz table, each item’s name starting with the letter sin (s) in Persian, and each item is a symbol of spring and renewal.
On this Haft-Seen, we have the below 7 items:
1. Seeb [pronounced see-b]: apple (representing health and beauty)
2. Seer [pronounced see-r]: garlic (representing strength
3. Samanu [pronounced sa-maa-noo]: sweet wheat pudding – this is the heart container (representing the sweetness of life)
4. Sekeh [pronounced she-keh]: coins (representing prosperity and success)
5. Somaq [pronounced so-mac}: sumac, the dark red spice (representing sunrise)
6. Senjed [pronounced sen-jeh-d]: dried fruit of a lotus tree – these are the brown dried fruits that look kind of like olives (representing love)
7. Sabzeh [pronounced sab-zeh]: sprouts (representing rebirth and growth in spring)
Aside from the Seven S’, many families include other symbolic items too!
We included:
Ayneh [pronounced ai-neh]: a mirror (representing light and truth)
Tokhme Morgh {pronounced towk-meh-morg]: eggs (representing new life)
Nowruz Mubarak (Happy New Year)!
