Conservative health data released by the Irna news agency confirm another 92 victims with first-degree burns and admitted to hospital facilities, due to adverse effects in the use of dangerous incendiary substances.
On the last Wednesday of the Persian year, various villages celebrate the ritual of lighting and jumping fires, known as Chajarshanbe Suri (Scarlet Wednesday), considered the first celebration of the Nowruz festival.
The tradition requires extreme care, since the game with fire brings irreparable consequences for many families who mourn their homes, New Year’s Eve and ancient Nowruz.
Mehdi Davari, director of the Security and Fire Services of Tehran, assured the local press that the necessary equipment is available to extinguish fires as soon as possible in all metropolitan circuits.
The Chajarshanbe Suri festival, celebrated by Azeris, Kurds and Persians, is also held in other neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Tajikistan and Turkey.
The praise of fire responds to one of the first gods of the ancient Iranian civilization, the sun, and extends to the dead, with a ritual that begins with the collection of weeds in an open and free outdoor space.
In the evening, after making one or several bonfires, they must jump over the flames, while singing songs in which they give the fire their pallor and accept the reddish color of the flames, as a sign of purification of the bodies.
They have a light family snack beforehand to hit the jumps, and at the end, already purified, they eat dinner along with fireworks that color the night.
The dishes and sandwiches are accompanied by nuts and a soup with pasta, the larger the better to wish all members of the family a long life, and the dressing includes wild herbs, rice, lentils and fish.
msm/ynr
