Holidays

Happy Nowruz! Haft-Seen Coloring Sheet Printable for Kids

As you know we’ve been learning a lot about Nowruz (or Norooz), the Persian New Year celebration of Spring. It falls on the 21st of March this year so we put together our first Haft-Seen table. It was a fun learning experience for all of us, especially since I’ve been trying to learn Farsi. Nowruz /Norooz is a fascinating holiday. It has been celebrated for over 3,000 years! It’s not necessarily a religious holiday but more of a festival to celebrate spring and hopes for the new year.

I created a Haft-Seen table printable to help out the process and that can keep little hands busy as a coloring sheet.

Click to print out your own Haft-Seen table printable here.

Haft-Seen actually means “The Seven S’s” in Farsi. That doesn’t that mean there are only seven items on the table but there needs to be at minimum seven. Observers also add other items to the table that do not start with the letter S to symbolize spring and hope for the new year. Here is a handy key if you would like to play along: (I’ve copied this directly from Wikipedia and other sources. Please correct me in the comments if I’ve gotten anything wrong.)

Sabzeh = wheat, barley, mung bean or lentil sprouts growing in a dish – symbolizing rebirth
Samanu = sweet pudding made from wheat germ – symbolizing affluence
Senjed = dried Silverberry oleaster or wild olive fruit – symbolizing love
Sir = garlic – symbolizing medicine
Sib = apples – symbolizing beauty and health
Somāq = sumac fruit – symbolizing (the color of) sunrise
Serkeh = vinegar – symbolizing old-age and patience
Sonbol = Hyacinth flower – symbolizing blossoming spring
Sekkeh = Coins -symbolizing prosperity

Some other additional non-“s” items on the table can be:

a candle to light the table – symbolizing sunrise and enlightenment
decorated eggs – symbolizing life or fertility
a koran or holy book
a bowl of goldfish – symbolizing good luck
a mirror – symbolizing cleanliness and self-reflection
a crystal bowl of water with an orange floating in it – symbolizing the earth floating in space
rosewater – symbolizing purity and cleanliness

There are more items too but they are more specific to a region or religious background. Nowruz is celebrated all over the world so there are many different variations.