Chaharshanbe Suri – Ancient Persian Festival of fire
Chaharshanbe Suri always holld on the last Wednesday night before the Persian New Year, which is always the Spring equinox, the Festival of Fire takes place and sees bonfires sprouting up in various public areas, in alleys, in front of homes and mostly parks or gardens. Chahar-Shanbeh means Wednesday and Suri means both ‘Red’ and ‘Celebration’. In this “red celebration”, people go out and make bush fires and keep them burning till the next morning. This is symbolic of burning all that was bad, pain, unhappiness, sickness and worry and looking forward to a new beginning. People jump over the burning cinders and shout, “Oh, Chahrshanbe Suri; Give me your red color (red face color is the symbol of healthiness) and take back yellow color (yellow face color is the symbol of sickly pallor),” which is a purification ritual. Some believe their ancestors’ spirits visit during the last few days of the year.