سیزده بدر

(my family celebrating sizdah bedar, 1958)

sizdah bedar mobarak!

today, 13 days after the first day of spring (nowruz), our month long celebrations for the new year come to an end. loved ones gather outside to picnic, to enjoy each others company and the new spring unfolding.

one beloved tradition is to give our sabez (grass) that we sprout for the haft seen (spring altar), to moving water to be released. the sabez represents all of the worry, misfortune, illness, and bad feelings that have been held in our home. by releasing the sabez to the water and spending the day outside, we rid our homes, bodies, minds and hearts of bad luck and stagnation and come home to a fresh new beginning.

i've never been more grateful to have these rituals and ancestral strategies to carry me through these uncertain times.

sending the feeling of release and moving water to you all,

mandana