Thirteen Out the Door

The big finale of the Persian New Year is "Sizdeh Bedar" which translates literally to Thirteen Out the Door. Today, on the 13th day of the new year, Iranians assemble picnic items and gather family members for a day outside at the nearest park with preferably a river or creek or some body of water (I'll get to that in a second). As you have probably figured out by now, Iranians don't mess around when it comes to food. So the picnic consists of everything typical of an american picnic like sandwiches, chips, fruits and soda to all-out persian additions like noodle soups, elaborate pastries and cookies, rice dishes and stews, and grilled kabobs.

According to this site, the old school Persians considered thirteen to be an unlucky number, so on the thirteenth day, they felt it was necessary to be outside of the home and sharing the day with the hills, the fields and mother nature. Thus began the worldwide Persian tradition of spending Sizdeh Bedar at the park with family and friends, eating food, playing frisbee, soccer or backgammon and dancing to persian music blasting from portable cd-players all day. This day is also significant in officially marking an end to the Persian New Year festivities; the sofreh would be cleaned up and stored away, and the green sprouts ("sabzi") would be tossed into a river or stream as a symbol of wishing for many good things in the new year. Evidently, after two weeks, the green sprouts tend to turn slightly yellow and wilted, which represents sickness or problems. So on Sizdeh Bedar, you take the sabzi, tie a ribbon around bunches of sprouts and make a wish. Each ribbon tied around the bunch of sprouts symbolize one wish - you can make as many wishes as you like, most notably for a husband, which has seemed to be the most common persian tradition - then you toss the sabzi into the water. Don't you love all the symbolism and metaphors? That is why Iranians will never be direct in expressing themselves. That is why persian men and women are quite unique and complicated. And that is why - as a very direct and forward person - I am a complete anomaly in my culture *smile*.

Unfortunately, since Sizdeh Bedar seems to inevitably fall on a weekday, Iranians designate the previous or upcoming Sunday as the day to be out. For example, the Sizdeh Bedar for the Virginia Iranians was this past Sunday, and the Maryland one is this upcoming Sunday (Black Hills Park - a long time tradition in Montgomery County - which gets so crowded there are shuttle buses that transport families from their cars, parked along the road, to the park). The fondest childhood memories I have of Sizdeh Bedar is the socializing. I couldn't wait to see my friends - kids of my parents' friends - and we'd immediately stray from our families and go on people-watching walks around the park. Who's wearing what, who's dating whom, whose son is back in town on break and suddenly looks a LOT better than he did last year... Then the eye-flirting began. Groups of girls would mischievously eye groups of boys across the field - of course, never actually approaching them - and circle each other until it got tiring. And don't get me started on the food. Not only did you get to tap your own family's wide selection of food, but next thing you know, you would get sucked into eating with other families. I take it when my ancestors were coming up with all these symbolic traditions, they decided that the purpose of Sizdeh Bedar was to begin the new year with relaxing and fun times with family and friends, and getting fresh air while being one with nature. Not a bad tradition, eh?