Navruz is one of the oldest festivals in the world, celebrated for more than 3,000 years. On this day, families clean their homes from top to bottom — it is a custom that means washing away the old and making space for something fresh and new. Everybody puts on their best clothes and visits neighbours, family and friends.
A special dish called sumalak is made for Navruz — a sweet, dark pudding cooked from sprouted wheat. It takes an entire day to prepare, stirred constantly in a huge pot by many people taking turns, often while singing and telling stories. Everyone who stirs the pot makes a wish. At the end, the pudding is shared with the whole neighbourhood.
Outside, people gather for music, dancing, buzkashi games, gushtigiri wrestling and other traditional sports. Children play and sing special spring songs. Flowers — especially tulips — are given as gifts because they are the first flowers to push up through the ground after winter. Navruz says: the cold is over, something new is growing.