(17 Mar 2025)
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Tehran – 16 March 2025
1. Various of sprouts
2. Sprouts getting watered
3. Woman filming flowers and sprouts
4. Various of shoppers
5. Woman filming
6. Goldfish
7. Various of Nowruz table items
8. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Esmail Amani, 57, vendor:
"These are the items for the Nowruz table. People don’t buy them anymore—not from shops, not from anywhere. They simply can’t afford them. In the past, they could walk into a supermarket and fill a car with goods for just 10 million rials. Now, with the same money, they can barely fill a handbag."
9. Woman taking picture, fishbowl in foreground
10. Various of young woman playing hang drum
11. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Azadeh Asgari, 38, Tehran resident:
"When the new year arrives, it brings change, not just to our homes, but also to how we feel. We thoroughly clean our homes and shop for items, each carrying a special meaning for us. This is how we welcome the new year."
12. Flowers on display
13. Customers shopping for flowers
14. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Azadeh Asgari, 38, Tehran resident:
"Nowruz has always meant new clothes, new goods, trips, and more. But nowadays, with all the economic difficulties, fewer people can travel, and people are buying less, (when it comes to) both goods and clothes. I even heard that clothing sales have dropped to below COVID(-19) levels."
15. Goldfish inside bowl
16. People gathering to watch carnival puppets
17. Various of carnival puppets dancing
18. Pan from woman playing drum to puppets
19. Various of flowers and Nowruz table items
20. Various of people clapping and dancing
STORYLINE:
The streets of Tehran are packed with people as the Persian New Year draws near, but many shoppers are returning home with smaller shopping bags, signaling a worsening economy.
Nowruz, or "New Day" in Farsi, is celebrated by some 300 million people in Iran and beyond, marking the spring equinox.
This year it falls on Thursday, with the new year officially starting Friday.
Days ahead of Nowruz, shoppers head to markets to buy various products including new clothes, gifts and items for the Persian New Year table called Haft-Sin.
For the tradition of Haft-Sin, the family dining table is spread with a special tablecloth a few days prior to the New Year and decorated with seven items, each thought to signal a prosperous and bountiful year ahead.
The items – known as the Seven S’s of the New Year – are seeb (apple), sekkeh (coin), sabzeh (grass shoots), somagh (sumac), sonbol (hyacinths), samanoo (wheat pudding) and serkeh (vinegar).
Other items starting with "s" in Farsi can also be used, and goldfish are a common element on the tables.
"When the new year arrives, it brings change, not just to our homes, but also to how we feel. We thoroughly clean our homes and shop for items, each carrying a special meaning for us. This is how we welcome the new year," said Tehran resident Azadeh Asgari.
However sellers and customers said people are buying less this year, a sign of worsening economic woes after the local currency, the rial, has dropped to record lows.
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