Nowruz Planner
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Nowruz - the Persian New Year - is timed to the astronomy itself: the year turns at the spring equinox, the moment called tahvil, which in 2027 falls on March 20. That makes Nowruz the rare feast whose date you never argue about and whose preparation you absolutely must schedule - roughly thirty million people across Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus and the diaspora close one year and open another with the same two weeks of momentum.
Bottom line: the two clock-bound jobs are the deep clean and the sprouts. Khoneh tekani - the everything-clean of the house - is the emotional core of the season (the year gets settled before spring does), and sabzeh, the green sprouts that crown the haft-sin table, needs to be started about two weeks out or it arrives table-pale instead of table-proud. Everything else - sweets, fish, new clothes, the guest map - hangs off those two anchors.
The honest part: the planner's rows end at the equinox, but Nowruz does not - the season runs thirteen days to Sizdah Bedar, the picnic day when the sabzeh goes to running water and the new year officially loosens up. And the equinox moment itself is a specific hour, not a date: families gather minutes before tahvil, read the table, and the countdown that matters ends to the minute - the US Naval Observatory publishes the official equinox moment in its seasons data each year, and that is the minute the table is read.
How to use
- Keep the default (the 2027 equinox, March 20) or set your own milestone - the family gathering, the first day off, Sizdah Bedar thirteen days later - and every row re-dates backward.
- Start the two anchors on time: the deep clean at four weeks, the sabzeh soak at thirteen days - both punish procrastination in ways the shopping rows do not.
- Copy the dated rows into your calendar - the haft-sin assembly the night before is the only all-hands job, and it goes smoothly exactly when everything else already happened.
Frequently asked questions
When exactly is Nowruz 2027?
The year turns at the spring equinox: March 20, 2027, at 20:25 UTC (late evening in Tehran, which means the tahvil gathering lands after dinner). Nowruz is the only major holiday set by astronomical instant rather than calendar convention - the solar Hijri new year begins at the equinox wherever you are. The date shifts a day year to year across time zones, which is why the official astronomy matters and why a planner that re-dates is more useful than a printed March 21.
What goes on the haft-sin table?
Seven items starting with the letter S (sin): sabzeh (sprouts, rebirth), samanu (wheat-paste pudding, sweetness), senjed (dried lotus fruit, love), serkeh (vinegar, patience), somagh (sumac, sunrise), seeb (apple, beauty) and sir (garlic, health) - plus the non-S furniture: a mirror, candles, painted eggs, a goldfish, hyacinths, and often a book of Hafez. Families assemble the table the night before tahvil; the shopping row in the planner exists because somagh and serkeh survive from last year while sabzeh, fish and hyacinths never do.
What is khoneh tekani and why does it start weeks early?
The great spring clean - literally shaking the house - is the moral preparation for the new year: debts settled, closets emptied, carpets beaten, grudges noted. It starts two to four weeks before the equinox because it is a season of work, not a weekend chore, and because its finish line is the haft-sin table: you cannot set a fresh table in an unsettled house. The planner's 28-day row is the honest version - the families who start it late are the ones dusting while guests arrive.
How long does Nowruz last?
Thirteen days. The holiday opens at the equinox with the tahvil moment and the first-day visits (youngest first, elders first), continues as a two-week circuit of family houses - each with its own sweets and its own stories - and closes on Sizdah Bedar, the thirteenth day, with an obligatory outdoor picnic: the sabzeh sprouts are thrown into running water to carry the year's bad luck away, and the season ends outdoors. Set the planner to the thirteenth day after the equinox and it will schedule the picnic prep backward just as happily.