Iranian Holydays And Holy Days
 
   
2.Charshanbeh-Soori
There is another pleasant ceremony for children called Charshanbeh-Soori. On the last Tuesday of each year children prepare themselves for a joyful night. Some days before this particular night they go to the fields to pick and accumulate some dry bushes and shrubs, or, if in cities, they buy bushes from those who have provided them from deserts, mountains or fields.
Being ready for the fall of dusk, children throughout the country get ready with matches in hand to set the bushes in fire. By kindling them, firecrackers explode and illuminators are thrown into the sky. When the dried bushes are ablaze, both the young and the old, either male or female, leap over the fire, which is a symbol of historic phenomenon that changed human life from cave dwelling into a civilized one.
When the bushes and shrubs burn to ashes, little children start the second phase of the celebration called Ghashogh-Zani (clattering spoons).
   
On these the last days of the year, people will buy dry-nuts like almonds, walnuts, pistachios, etc. On hearing a knock at the door or rattling sounds of spoons by children who have covered their faces with a veil, they give them a handful of nuts as a gift of Eve of the New Year. Mirthful and light-hearted, the children gather in a corner of a house or under a tree and begin to eat and laugh heartily. Two or three days later, the New Year will arrive.

3. Shab-e Yalda
The other winter festival is a nocturnal celebration held on the eve of December 22nd called Shab-e Yalda. Since this is the longest night in a year, people will prepare for the beginning of long nights. From this day on, i.e. December 23rd, approximately one minute will be subtracted from the length of the night and added to the length of the day. This phenomenon will last up to June 23rd, which is the longest day in a year.
So, people will get ready in two or three days before the appointed night by purchasing a lot if edible things including some winter fruits like oranges, pomegranates and apples; some sunflower fried and salted seeds; and some nuts consisting of dried plum, bonbon, peanut, chickpea, etc. The most important of all is a big watermelon. Although the starting night of the winter is usually very cold, all the Iranians prefer to have a ripe, red watermelon as a symbol of farewell to warm days of summer and mild days of the fall.

 
A fried fish, i.e. trout with a plate of cooked rice is traditionally prepared as the main course on the New Year's Eve. On this night, there will be a dining table, which is set for baskets of fruits etc. and another one for dishes of food.
Normally all the sweets including pastry, candies and cakes are fully sold out on this night, as the confectionery sales flourish. Most people prefer to buy ready-made sweets while many of the elderly ladies prefer homemade ones. Younger couples often go to visit the older people like their parents and parents-in-law on the first day of Norooz or immediately after the outbreak of the New Year.
 

National days

1. Nationalization of Petroleum Industry
One of the significant days in the Iranian calendar and history (not ordinary festival days), is March 20th and April 1st, while the former is the day of petroleum industry nationalization and the latter a National Day. A majority of Iranian people (up to %98) voted 'Yes' in a nationwide referendum to the Islamic Republic of Iran on the first day of April 1979. Therefore the Persian Monarchy changed into a Republican system after 2,500 years.
The other one, March 20th, is the commemorating day of nationalization of an important public source that now constitutes a major part of per capita income. On March 20th in 1950, after a long, hot political and economical debate with British oil companies who had acquired the ownership of the oil wells in gratis, the Hague arbiters were convinced to ratify a bill announcing the oil sources as national assets.
Honoring this event the 20th day of March (the last day of Iranian calendar) is considered as a public holiday.