Much of the celebrations for Nawroz/Nowruz are, for the most part, very similar to one another across celebrating countries. The overall Nawroz festivities will last ~2 weeks, including very commonly a “preparation” ceremony beforehand called chaharshanbe suri, where people will spiritually cleanse themselves by jumping over fire before heading into the New Year.

For all shades of Nawroz, the philosophy and the significance of the number seven is very similar. Every year, observers will prepare an offering (most generally food-based) as an homage to the seven immortals who created and protected our world and the current cycle of life. One of the intriguing differences across the celebrating cultures, however, lies in how this offering is prepared.

In Iran and for Nowruz, it is common to have a haft sin table, which translates into English as the “seven s’s.” The table will usually have different symbolic ingredients – all of which begin with the letter “s” in Persian – on it, such as: sabzeh (wheat/barley), samanu (sweet pudding), senjed (dried fruit… more to come on this one later), sir (garlic), sib (apple), somaq (spice made from dried fruits) and serkeh (vinegar).

In the Afghan observance, however, there is no such haft sin table. Instead, the homage to the seven immortals lies at the heart of haft mewa. Translated into English, haft mewa means “seven fruits,” which are combined together into one serving.