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rediff.com News Business Movies Sports Get Ahead rediff NewsApp Sign in | Create a Rediffmail account Rediff.com » Getahead » #NavrozeRecipes: Bring in the New Year with a bang! #NavrozeRecipes: Bring in the New Year with a bang! March 20, 2015 10:47 IST Saturday marks the Zoroastrian New Year or Navroze. Coomi Selod shares with us these special recipes that are prepared on this special day. Jamshedi Navroz is one of the most loved of Persian festivals and is celebrated by all Zoroastrians across the world. The festival marks the Zoroastrian New Year and is celebrated on March 21, which coincides with the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. It has been celebrated for almost 3,000 years and is deeply rooted in the rituals and traditions of the Zoroastrian system. The word Navroz has been derived from two Persian words, 'nav' means 'new' and 'roz' means both 'day' and 'time'. Hence, Navroz signifies 'new day' which is translated into 'new year'. The origin of Navroz can be taken 15,000 years back, ie. even beyond the Ice Age. Initially, seasons played a significant role in human life. Everything depended on the four seasons. As the cold winter season ended, spring was a great occasion to rejoice as it brought in warmth and colour all around as its the start of a period of new life, when trees and plants begin to bloom and the ground turns green, after the barren winter. King Jamshed, is also known as Yima or Yama of the IndoIranian lore, he is known to have introduced the solar calculation in the Persian calendar. Around 1725 BCE, the calendar that prevailed was lunisolar. The lunar year consisted on 354 days. The founder of the Good Religion, Zarathustra, founded an observatory and improved the calendar to make it a lunisolar year of 365 days, 5 hours and a fraction. Another interesting tradition followed on this occasion is the decoration of the table with seven foods that begin with 'sh' or 'sa' symbolizing creation or renewal. These foods include sabzeh (sprouts), samanu (a sweet creamy pudding), seeb (apple), senjed (sweet dry fruit of the Lotus tree), seer (garlic), somaq (sumac berries) and serkeh (vinegar). Apart from these foods, the table is also decorated with a copy of Gathas, a lit lamp, an afrigan (a vessel to hold the holy fire), a bowl of water containing live fish, a shallow earthenware plate with sprouted wheat or beans for prosperity, flowers ALSO READ MOST RECENT MOST EMAILED MOST COMMENTED Spotted: Rajkumar Hirani at Nagpur airport Reader Ashish Dhupar sends us a photograph. More stars spotted Bottled appetite Game changing flavours #BohriKitchen: How to make Kalamra Streetstyle Chinese in your kitchen Top 10 food cities Stars spotted! What's this? Met a celebrity? Email us photos & videos Rediff News All News Search Realtime
