Navroz Mubarak: New Year is back on the table for city's Parsis and Iranis

It's been two years since city-based public relations professional Yohanna Dadachanji has been able to properly enjoy Navroz. One of her favourite aspects of the festival is setting up the traditional Haft-Sin table--the centre-piece of Navroz festivities. "It was very difficult to meet family and friends in the last two years. Not having your loved and dear ones around to share the Haft-Sin table feast is really heartbreaking," says Dadachanji, who is looking forward to resuming the old normal this New Year by offering prayers, cooking an elaborate spread and inviting friends and relatives over.

Navroz marks the start of the spring season and is celebrated in March every year. For the uninitiated, today's celebration is different from the Parsi New Year that is usually celebrated later in the year in August. "While Parsi New Year in August also known as Pateti marks the beginning of the Parsi calendar, Navroz is the Iranian New Year," explains Dadachanji. "Both festivals are celebrated with great pomp and fervour by all Zoroastrians."

While the Iranis in the city lay out a traditional table to mark the festival, the Parsis indulge in the festivities with food and entertainment. "The entire family comes together and we lay the New Year table and light the divo together," says Farzin Desai, another Irani in the city who is looking forward to spending a fun evening at Parsi Gymkhana followed by dinner, a get-together she is excited about because it hasn't been possible in the last two years. "Due to the pandemic, we missed out on the larger family coming and visiting the Navroz table and we could not get the special Irani mithai too." This year, the family will make up for lost time. Besides homemade falooda with rose syrup, sev and watermelon sharbat, Farzin's family will treat guests to chicken, fish and mutton delicacies for lunch and dinner.

Since the festival falls on a working Monday, Mahim-based teacher Azmin Mistry Vania decided to celebrate the festival on the night before Navroz along with her mother who prepared a lavish Parsi Bhonu feast spanning from Patra Ni Machi to Gajar Mewa Achaar. "Typically, the day starts with breakfast, followed by children bathing in milk and rose petals. After all of that is done, we get ready to go to the Fire Temple, ask for blessings and say thank you for a great year gone by," says Vania, whose family will bring in Navroz in their typically atypical annual fashion.

Azmin Mistry Vania is celebrating the festival with a traditional meal including dishes such as Pulao Dar and Patra Ni Machi. Photo: Azmin Mistry Vania

"We will watch a Gujarati Bawa play as we do every year on this day," says 35-year-old Vania who will be catching 'Sherlock Homi', a Gujarati Bawa play, at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Nariman Point. "I was to play a part in the play but unfortunately, since I have an exam on the day, they had to find a replacement," says the teacher who sorely missed watching plays for two years. "The first time we were actually rehearsing till the last day and then the lockdown hit and it was a similar case last year too," rues Vania, who is a stage actor since 2005.

However, setting the ritualistic Haft-Sin table and a mouth-watering spread of sev and ravo, shrove, paneer, dry fruits and mithai was not off the table for Danesh Irani's Tardeo household even during the pandemic. "Setting the table once means it has to be set for life in my family. It cannot be stopped one year and started the other year again. So, even in the pandemic, we set the table. But several things weren't available. While it was set up successfully in 2020, the pandemic hit just after Navroz which made things tricky last year. Even this year, there are a few Iranian delicacies like Gaz (a mithai made from camel's milk), which we couldn't get this year because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The cargo that has been stopped. However, we have the Gaz from last year, so we will be using that this year," says Irani, whose family would be deprived of their son halwa and fresh Iran-sourced baklava this year.

Set up at the time dictated by the community in Iran, to indicate the turn of the year, the Haft-Sin table contains things that celebrate prosperity and harvest. "We also put a mirror. Everybody in the family looks into it, sprinkles rose-water on it and smiles to indicate that the whole year will be happy," says 32-year-old Irani who will go "table-hopping" in his Parsi-families-boasting building as usual. The next day, Irani's family will feast on delicacies like Pulao Dar and Patra Ni Machi followed by a delightful addition, which wasn't possible in the last two years. Like Vania, this time around, his family will also go for the Parsi play at NCPA, where he playing the lead part of Sherlock Homi.