🔥Chaharshanbe Suri (Festival of Fire)

About Chaharshanbe Suri (Festival of Fire)

Chaharshanbe Suri, the Festival of Fire, is an ancient Iranian celebration of Zoroastrian origin held on the eve of the last Wednesday before Nowruz, the Persian New Year. As the old year burns away, families and friends light bonfires in streets, yards and squares and leap over the flames, calling out "your redness for my paleness" — asking the fire to take their winter pallor and sickness and give back its glowing health and energy.

The night is loud and joyful: alongside the fire-jumping there are fireworks, sparklers and the old custom of qashogh-zani, in which children bang spoons on bowls and knock on doors for treats, a little like trick-or-treating. The rituals are all about purification and renewal, sweeping out the darkness of the dying year so the household can step bright and clean into the festivities of Nowruz a few days later.

Because Chaharshanbe Suri is tied to the Iranian solar calendar, its Gregorian date shifts slightly each year, always landing on a Tuesday evening in mid-to-late March, just before Nowruz. The live countdown above tracks the next observance automatically. Add it to your own page to count down to the Persian Festival of Fire and the start of the Nowruz celebrations.