Written by: Katherine Sanders
March 20th was the first day of Spring and Nowruz, the Persian New Year. While we made Dubai Chocolate in the lounge, Baran explained the initial tradition of jumping over a bonfire. There isn’t any bonfire around GTE, so we lit a candle in the parking lot later that day. As one runs over the fire, they say in Farsi, “My yellowness to you, your redness to me.” Maddie and I said, “My sickness to you, your health to me,” as we jumped over the flame.
The next morning, Baran invited us to her room at 10am. A few items lay on her desk in a beautiful arrangement. They all represented different values one would like to uphold in the new year. In Farsi, they all start with the letter S:
Sabzeh (sprouts): Rebirth
Samanu (wheat germ pudding): Power
Senjed (oleaster): Love
Serkeh (vinegar): Patience
Seeb (garlic): Health
Somagh (sumac): Sunrise
Baran laid out a white scarf and gold dress as the tablecloth. She popped out a small mirror from an eyeshadow palette and decorated it with white eyeliner. It sat on a white box wrapped in a white tube top. The mirror was held up with the makeup palette and accompanied by a gold claw clip in the shape of a flower. She filled one of the glasses that came in her cupboard with vinegar.
A young hyacinth was on her desk. She bought it from the flower shop five minutes from our dorms. The hyacinth came in a small pink bucket, fitting the established color scheme well. The wheat paste was in a small metal container. It’s thick, grainy and slightly sweet.
A bouquet of flowers Baran bought from the week before had dried just enough to decorate the display. A dried flower floated in the vinegar, two balanced with the garlic cloves, three sitting in the sumac. The flowers she bought at Carrefour the night before were placed in an empty Coke bottle and a fake tulip she bought in Amsterdam was in another old glass.
After her differential equations quiz, Baran bought eclairs and tartes from Paul. She arranged them on a tiered platter made with two plates and a glass cup.
We sat in front of the display with the window open, ate the pastries, and drank tea. The brightest sunlight I’ve seen in Metz shined into the room.
