Seasonal rites
Chaharshanbe Suri fire-jumping
On the last Tuesday evening of the Persian year people leap over small fires and ask the flame to take their sickliness.
Presented by ClearTrust Customs described as customs, free to read.
Chaharshanbe Suri is the Iranian festival of fire held on the eve of the last Wednesday of the Persian year, before Nowruz, the new year at the spring equinox. Families light small bonfires in the street and jump over them. As they leap, they say a rhyme asking the fire to take their yellow, meaning paleness and ill health, and give them its red, meaning warmth and vigour.
This is an outline of a custom, said as belief and practice. It is not instruction, it does not say that the rite works, and it is not medical advice.
What goes into it
- Small bonfireSubstanceBuilt of brush and lit in the street.
- Rhyme to the fireWordZardi-ye man az to, sorkhi-ye to az man.
- Old pot or jugObjectBroken to throw out ill luck.
- Mixed nuts and dried fruitOfferingEaten and given to neighbours.
- Spoon and potToolBanged by children at doors.
- Street or yardSpaceWhere the fires are lit.
- Substance
- Word
- Object
- Offering
- Tool
- Space
Each part has an equal wedge. The ring shows what goes into the rite, not how much. Colour is the part's role.
The steps, drawn
Each drawing shows the kind of act in that step. Details differ from place to place, family to family and practitioner to practitioner.
Step 1: Gather Collect brush and set small fires in the street at dusk. Step 2: Light Light the fires as it grows dark. Step 3: Speak Say the rhyme asking the fire for its warmth. Step 4: Cast Jump over the flames, one after another. Step 5: Offer Share nuts and sweets with neighbours. Step 6: Close Let the fire die and clear the ashes the next day.
Other customs
On the same night people break an old pot or a jug on a roof or at a crossing, which is said to throw out the year's bad luck. Children go door to door banging spoons on pots and receive nuts and sweets, and a mixed nut dish, ajil-e moshkel-gosha, is eaten to ease difficulties. Some people stand at a crossroads and listen to the first words of a passer-by, which is read as a hint of the year to come.
History and tension
Scholars link the festival to older Persian and Zoroastrian customs of fire and the return of the dead before the new year. After 1979 the state has often criticised it as un-Islamic and seen it as a reason for public gatherings, and injuries from fireworks are reported each year. It is also kept by Persian communities abroad and in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Kurdish regions with local variants.
What it is for
- Clear the year's ill health and bad luck
- Welcome the new year
Who does it
Related entries
Also part of it, and being written: Zoroastrianism (The faith linked to its fire customs.).
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Sources and further reading
Original text and drawings by the EveryJaadu desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Closed or sacred detail is left out. If we have something wrong, tell us.