Making a haft sin wreath — حلقه هفت سین
Happy Nowruz everyone!
Nowruz, the Persian New Year, is the day of the vernal equinox, and marks the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the same moment around the whole planet — the moment the sun crosses the celestial equator. This year, that moment is March 20 at 6:28:40 am ET. More at global nowruz countdown.
And this year, I decided to try a cross cultural haft sin — take the “haft sin” from the Persian Nowruz tradition, and combine it with the American “holiday wreath” tradition.
My wish is that people will see this post and be inspired to make their own haft sin wreathes. First, it’s a fun thing to do. Second, we live in a time of immigrant bashing and fear of foreigners. Displaying a cross- cultural wreath on your door is a great way to reach out to people in positive celebration. A cultural bridge which can literally have olive branches on it (see “senjed” below).
If you do make a wreath, please share on social media with #haftsinWreath. Thanks!
“But what” you may ask, “is a haft sin?”
haft sin — هفت سین
To mark the occasion of Nowruz, Iranians set a table with certain symbolic objects, including seven things that start with the letter “s”.
“Haft” هفت means “seven” and “sin” سین means “the letter s”. Note: the “i” here sounds like the “i” in pizza, ski or Iran.
Read Persian Today — It’s easier than you think.
Editor’s note: Apparently, the haft sin is a recent tradition, per this post on NPR. For more haft sin info, see Fig & Quince’s Norooz 101. For pictures check out haft sins on Pinterest, and haft sins on Tumblr.
Pronunciation: It’s not “sin” like “sinful”. With #textingfArsi, the letter “i” is always pronounced like the “i” in pizza or ski or Iran. We could have written it as “seen” but Americanized spelling is a slippery slope. If we can get everyone to consistently use “i” for the sound of ski and Iran, we can build on that. It may seem silly now, but there is a HUGE payoff for those who want to jump to the end-game and correctly read advanced Persian poetry. #textingfArsi is the tool to get you there. Embrace the power and elegance!
Gathering the objects
Let’s take a look at the seven traditional things that begin with the letter s.
garlic — sir — سیر
greens — sabze — سبزه
apple — sib — سیب
samanu — سمنو
senjed — سنجد
vinegar — serkeh — سرکه
somAq — سماق
Note I also have some coins in this picture (“sekeh” — سکه) which brings the s count up to 8. Most people also add a hyacinth plant (“sonbol”- سنبل ) and something red (“sorx”- سرخ) plus many other traditional objects. We’re keeping it simple for our beginner wreath.
Just Add Wreath
So we have our haft sin. And we have our wreath.
That brings us to an engineering problem. How do you add a haft sin to a wreath?
I got some little glass containers that had a loop on them to put things in and attach them to the wreath. (Yay Michaels!)
Without further ado, here’s my first pass at the haft sin wreath.
Not the most elegant solution, but it’s a start.
It’s hard to attach a plate of sabzi (greens, sprouts) to the wreath, so I added a green ribbon as a placeholder.
The peacock feathers are not traditional. Just vanity.
Reflection: What could we do to make this wreath better?
The first thing to notice is that sticking things onto a wreath looks awkward, and doesn’t really take advantage of the “wreath” medium.
Perhaps, we need to rethink those objects in wreath mode. Let’s start with the wreath itself. It is a grapevine wreath (just $9.99 at Michaels). Think about that. The base of this wreath is grape vines, which evokes grapes, the source of both serkeh (vinegar) and sharAb (wine).
Garlic is often incorporated into herb wreathes, so you’ve got some precedent there.
Senjed and somAq come from plants. Senjed is considered a weed in New Jersey, and somAq is a native species that some people are cultivating. You just have to plan ahead to gather the fruiting branches in the autumn. Dry and store them for use in Spring. That means mehregAn would be the time to think about this.
senjed — سنجد
Here is senjed, in a little glass container, tied to the wreath. Next year, I really must get senjed branches (also known as oleaster fruit or Russian Olive) to weave on to the wreath.
Fun fact: Senjed should be easy to find in New Jersey. It’s an invasive species here, and apparently provides great cover for bears. Go bears!
somAq — سماق
somAq* aka sumac is a spice that every Iranian knows. It’s what you sprinkle over your rice when you have chelo kabAb. It is a fixture on the haft sin table in powder form. Of course, when you add it to the wreath, it is likely to spill whenever you open the door. A stopper solves this problem, but an even better solution is to find the plant and add it to the wreath.
It turns out somAq is native to New Jersey, and there are some really cool people out there cultivating it. Recently, there was even a project on kickstarter to produce local sumac:
The plan is to plant around 500 sumac shrubs on an acre of land in New Jersey. The funds raised will be used to buy and plant the saplings (grown by a local nursery), install a deer fence (sumac shoots are delicious to deer and humans alike), acquire a sumac processor, and track and analyse the progress and results of the venture.
*Why do I transliterate this “somAq” and not “sumac?” Because it’s سُماق , not سومَک #textingfArsi. Remember, there is a big payoff with consistent translation. Wait ’til we get to advanced poetry reading!
More improvisations
What about those harder to attach objects? To support all the plants (the hyacinth and the sabzi/sprouts) you could get one of those wreath planters. Of course, in a pinch, I just found a really light cloverleaf plant. This makes it a cross cultural haft sin + St. Patricks Day wreath.
In addition to the seven “s” objects, people often add other objects, explained in this infographic via Fig and Quince. Here are some improvisations we made.
Some people like to have a live fish in a bowl at the table. We couldn’t very well stick a fish on to the wreath, so I added this plastic one.
Also, I’m not a big fan of the live fish. After Nowruz many families keep the fish and it eventually dies. Others release it to the wild — which is a bad idea. In the wild, they are invasive and keep growing.
The disco ball here is supposed to stand in for the mirror some people add. And finally, you can toss on a bunny and some eggs which ties the wreath in to Easter.
Some people add a holy book or a book of poetry to the table. That might be too heavy for the wreath. Instead of the whole book, you could select a favorite verse, write with calligraphy, roll it up and tie it to the wreath. Make it something that you could easily pull free and read, then put it back. A message on a wreath.
In these trying, anti-foreigner times, you might try sa’di’s bani Adam poem. Here’s the first line:
بنی آدم اعضای یک پیکرند — که در آفرینش ز یک گوهرند
bani Adam a’zAye yek peykarand — ke dar Afarinesh ze yek gowharand
The children of Adam are parts of one body — created from one essence…
Now you have a wreath. Hang it on the front door for all to see!
How to hang it on the door? There are lovely wreath hangers for this purpose. No nails required. Now it’s out there for everyone to see. The neighbors will be confused at first. Then they’ll hear the story. It will be a conversation starter.
As this catches on, more homes will be signaling that they support Persian culture and people, and sharing the joy of an ancient tradition.
Next Steps:
Make a wreath! That’s all there is to it! Hang it on your door and let us know about it with #haftsinWreath!
Start a business: Extra talented and business oriented? You could make haftsin wreathes and sell them on Etsy. Wreathes are a popular item on Etsy. Here are some tips for making a successful Etsy shop.
Get a gift: Persian-English word magnets make a great gift for you or someone you love!
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Happy Nowruz everyone!
Originally published at ajaban.com.
