Festivals · Persian culture
What is Haft-Sin?
هفتسینpronounced haft-SEEN
The Haft-Sin (هفتسین, "seven S's") is the ceremonial table Iranians set for Nowruz, the Persian New Year at the spring equinox. The seven required items all start with the Persian letter sin (س): sabzeh (sprouted greens — rebirth), samanu (sweet wheat pudding — strength), senjed (oleaster fruit — love), serkeh (vinegar — patience), seer (garlic — health), sib (apple — beauty), and somaq (sumac — the sunrise).
Families add a mirror, candles, painted eggs, goldfish, hyacinths, and a book of wisdom — usually the Divan of Hafez. The table stays up through the thirteen days of Nowruz, and the sabzeh is released into running water on Sizdah Bedar, carrying the old year's bad luck with it.
Why Haft-Sin matters in Persian culture
The Haft-Sin is the most photographed square meter of any Iranian home each March, and an annual referendum on whose arrangement is most elegant. For diaspora families, building one is how the new year still smells like hyacinth no matter the hemisphere.
In the game
Haft-Sin is one of 250 cards in Culture Cards: Persian Edition. Here's how it shows up at game night:
Play the game that gets Persian culture
250 cards of tarof, tahdig, and everything your Persian family will recognize instantly.
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