Chahar Shanbeh Suri (Wednesday Light)

Chahar Shanbe Suri kicks off the beginning of the Persian New Year festivities with fire jumping. Its direct translation is Wednesday Light. It takes place the last Wednesday before the New Year/Spring Equinox. Chahar Shanbe Suri is a kind of a cleansing ritual. As you jump over the fire you say "zardi-ye man az toh, sorkhi-ye toh az man".  It means give me your beautiful red color and take back my sickly yellow pallor. You are cleansing all of the bad from the previous year and asking for the fire's energy and warmth to guide you into the new year. 

As a child I lived out in the country on an acre of land with a big huge coral that would have been perfect for the horses we didn't have. Every year, the week before Chahar Shanbe Suri we'd be on the look out for big tumbleweeds for our bonfires. 

My dad would see these guys tumbling across the road and he'd pull over and Talia and I would jump out of the car and chase them down. I remember being late to school one day because I was chasing one of these down and thought it probably looked crazy seeing me climb down a hillside after capturing my prize. Ha! I was so proud though, no one had fun like we did as a family. One year, we had 6 mounds of tumbleweeds lined up in a row in the corral and the whole family came over for Chahar Shanbe Suri. We spent most of the evening leaping over these giants mounds. It was one of the most memorable nights of my life and the most special Chahar Shanbe ever. Persians get kind of crazy and lighting bonfires in an open field probably wasn't the best idea, but it made for perfect memories. 

This is pretty much what it looked like in our backyard that night.

When we jump here in the US, we always seem to do it on the Tuesday night instead of Wednesday, I think it's because it's Wednesday in Iran.

Ayla had her own little fire

Apparently we did our celebration a week early! So join the actual festivities next Tuesday for real!

Happy (early) Chahar Shanbe Suri!!

Booses, 

Shenine joon