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Spring Equinox marks the Persian New Year, or Noruz (New Day), dating back to early Zoroastrian times when King Jamshid, from the Persian Shahnameh (Book Of Kings), announces the coming of spring, heralding a lengthy festival of merriment that is intended to match the blooming vitality of springtime. It’s no small thing. Festivities commence a week earliar, on St Patrick’s day and last for over 15 days. No pints of Guiness or green, but fireworks instead, firehopping, and ecstatic mayhem signals the holiday season. Then the whole country goes into chillax mode.
I had envisioned the run starting a few days back originally, to tap into the new year holiday momentum, and drive focus on the running mission. Oh well…
I headed over to Ecbatan, the area in Tehran known for the most chaotic and celebratory fireworks and firehopping. People warned me to stay home during this day. “this isn’t a safe time. people are nuts and will light things and toss them near crowds.You can lose your hand!.”
I figured they were exaggerating.
They weren’t.
The city felt like a booming war zone of spontaneity. It was like a mini Baghdad
Humans voluntarily hopping over fires 9x their size, constant fireworks, sporadic dancing, and grandmas half-huddled in gossip, passionately peering on from their apartment lobbies. It was an overwhelming rush of adult playground madness pushed to the limits with the occasional homemade dynamite stick. I found myself running from M-80’s that landed nearby a few times. I remembering thinking about the fireworks frenzy on the Eastside of Santa Cruz on the 4th of July. That was now childsplay.
Lines of men, woman, and children hopped over big fires everywhere. Now why hop over fire one might wonder? Back in BC times, when Zoroastrianism was the state religion of Iran, fire was perceived as the ultimate all-consuming force of Goodness, and was seen as a symbol for the greatness of Ahura Mazda, the name referred to the Creator. Zoroastrians are typically misunderstood as “fire-worshippers,” however this is not true. As a monotheistic religion, they worship God, or Ahura Mazda. And in this firehopping context, the fire was considered a purifying source, cleansing the Iranians and preparing them for the new year: They will commonly chant the following mantra as they leap over the fire:
(Zardiyeh man az toh, sorkhiyeh to az man), which is literally, “take my yellow and give me your vitality.” However, its meaning is roughly: “Consume my ailments and give me your power and vitality.”
I was zoning out into the hoppers when one of the more notorious police forces appeared on the scene: 3 of them on one motorcycle. Younger ones fled the scene and dancers suddenly stopped moving. One of the catalogue models addressed the masses with a guttural voice: “No more homemade fireworks! These are too loud and obnoxious. I will have no more of this. We have respectable men and woman sleeping in these apartment buildings; we have people with ailments….. for instance, look at this poor gentleman right here, for example…” (He pointed at a man about 15 feet away from him whose arm was in a cast). The man started laughing.
The crowd began laughing with him. The police then, noticeably trying to conceal his laugh, began laughing along with the other police guys. He then hops on the motorcycle and leaves. People resumed havoc as the dancers started beatboxing about the police.
I decided to flee the scene after an hour of deafening booms and brisk winds. I hopped a cab to the other side of town and decided to get off near an abandoned but pleasantly thriving fire. I soon realized it was two car tires burning. I huddled down for warmth as an old disoriented woman walked by and stopped near me. She appeared confused and with overt distress.
“ Oh my, look at that ball of smoke!” , pointing in several locations above the tree line and at buildings. “The city is on fire! They’re taking the city. Don’t just sit there, we need to do something. LOOK! These buildings are going down. Call the police!”
“ Lady, it’s chahar shambeh soori (the name for this nite), take a chill pill ey. It will be okay.”
She looked at me as if inspecting an amoeba under a microscope, squinting her eyes, leaning over, then walked off casually.
I grabbed another cab to Captain’s apartment, and as I arrived, I noticed both his brothers were there and I was just in time for a kosher sausage dinner.
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