The thirteenth day after Nowruz marks the end of the celebrations of this most ancient festival of the Iranian people. This conclusion, like its beginning, is accompanied by rituals and traditions that are historic, beautiful, and truly unique.
On this day, Iranians cast into flowing water the sabzeh (sprouted greens) they have grown during the final days of the year greens that have borne witness to all the hardships and sorrows of the past year so that the water may carry them away. Along their journey, all those misfortunes and impurities are washed away, leaving only purity for the new year.
In keeping with this beautiful tradition, today the Empress of Iran, with the hope that the new year will be one of the triumph of light over darkness, and the renewed freedom and pride of Iran and its people, entrusted to the flowing water the sabzeh filled with the hardships and adversities of one of the darkest years in the long history of ancient Iran.
Farah Pahlavi
