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We Iranians  and all of us who celebrate Nouroz, we welcome 13-Bedar by having a day of fun.  Basically what we do is we enjoy spring weather and we finalize our festivities of Nouroz with 13-Bedar; d ay of connecting to the nature, having family time, and enjoy our healthy style of life.

13-Bedar for sure is a day of fresh air, good food, and laughter while being out there in form of a picnic.

This tradition is secular as much as our Nouroz is, we go out, and we take our body, soul, and mind to the mother earth.  We take our planted grass and we leave it to following water such as a river. In this way we return the grass to nature, where it belongs. We help the nature and we take care of it.
This one day of picnic is part of a cultural heritage that has been appreciated and practiced for thousands year.

13-Bedar is a day for promoting health, happiness, and family gathering.  This is a day when we meet our future days in spring and the rest of the year with respecting our outdoor live.
This is a beautiful ritual and we greet one another by saying; HAPPY 13-BEDAR.

April 5, 2009-04-05
Poran Poregbal
www.middlepeace.com

Years ago, I read an interesting quote whose author said that women are barometer for democracy in a country.   Now we may be able to argue that Nouroz is the barometer for our old ancient Persian culture.   Yes, I believe we can say that.   Just the fact that people keep enjoying this big event of the year, whether they live in Iran or around the world, we can appreciate survival of a culture that has been attached over the centuries.   All our great poets and philosophers such as Ferdowsi, Molana, Saadi, Khayam, and Hafez all have emphasized on Nouroz as a celebration of spring with the promise of new days.

Just surfing the internet, it is most exciting to see all the festivities and celebration of Nouroz by Iranian and people who are connected to this ancient Persian culture.  Nouroz is now not only being celebrated in Iran, but in many other countries and by many other nations who are somehow facinated about  this beautiful, secular, and lively tradition.
Nouroz is really out of the ordinary, optimistic, and inclusive tradition.

Proudly we can learn from the history confirming how this culture based on validation of happiness has been handed over to us.  Although for many of us Iranians who have lived out of our home country for a longer time, Nouroz does not smell the old days we used to celebrate this tradition; still our hearts beat faster around this time of year.  Who can forget all the shopping for new clothes, new shoes, and new accessories along with goodies, fruits, and good food for these 13 days of festivity?  Still, we need to keep acknowledging spring and Nouroz. Still we have to do what our ancestors wanted us to do, to keep our culture alive; culture of peace and happiness.

Day 5 of Nouroz
Poran Poregbal
www.middlepeace.com

Softfreh Haft-Sin: Sir, Somag, Senjed, Sabzeh, Samanou, Sib, Serkeh.

This is a collection of seven objects that in our culture represent the coming spring for us.  These objects have symbolical meaning and metaphorical value for our tradition.  It is incredible that each one of these objects has something to do with health and longevity. Just considering the meaning behind this gathering of unrelated things, we can appreciate the connection of Nouroz to a pragmatic and optimistic style of life.  This is amazing how much this tradition is secular, hopeful, and holistic.
Significantly we add several other things such as Sekeh, Samavar, Sonbol in addition to mirror and candles.

Five days left to Nouroz

Poran Poregbal
www.middlepeace.com