Sizdah Bedar

Thirteen days, then outdoors

Sizdah means thirteen, and bedar is read as “outdoors” or “out towards the plain”. The day is also officially called Ruz-e Tabiat, Nature Day. Twelve days after Nowruz, the New Year holidays end with a day that almost nobody spends at home: from the morning, families set out for parks, gardens, riverbanks and the countryside with picnics, rugs and tents.

Many Iranians regard thirteen as an unlucky number, and one reading of the custom is that going out into nature sheds the bad luck of the day.

Letting the sabzeh go

A picnic on Sizdah Bedar usually ends with one small act. The sabzeh, the wheat or lentil sprouts that stood on the Haft-sin table through the New Year, is carried out of the house and thrown into moving water rather than kept or thrown away at home. Before letting it go, young unmarried people tie knots in the green stems as a wish to find a partner in the coming year.

The day is also known for jokes and pranks, and among Iranians abroad the picnic is often moved to the nearest weekend.