Dream 2️⃣: Haft-Sin

Mahyar
Dini

2025

For many Iranians, the prospect of spring brings some anxiety because it means you need to start gathering materials for the haft-sin. It’s a ritual that requires a fair amount of headspace and planning. You have to sprout lentils weeks in advance (and keep them alive for weeks too) and you have to collect very specific items that are not readily available in many places, even New York City. Ordering things on Amazon from sellers in Toronto or California feels like cheating.

Mobile Haft-Sin:

This year I assembled my haft-sin in a way that illustrates the “production” behind its installation. Now that my daughter is five, I wanted to invite her to interact more directly with the ritual by including her in the staging process, and by using less precious objects than you would normally see. For most, including my mother, the haft-sin was one of the few moments when the finest ceramics and crystal came out of the cupboard. This always made it feel like an altar that was meant to be looked at but never touched.

This lower-fidelity approach made it easy to share the Nowruz ritual with my daughter’s classmates at school, which is something I’ve done for the last few years.

2025

Haft-Sin Still Life:

This year, I gave hierarchy to a few of the items:

The sham (candle) symbolizes enlightenment, which I chose to blow out to speak to this moment in time when we find ourselves stuck with leaders that do not represent the ideals of freedom and humanity.

The mahi (fish) looms large over the spread to emphasize the fragility of life in a time when millions of innocent people face death at the hands of predatory regimes.

The ayeneh (mirror) reflects the mahi, calling us to contemplate why we find ourselves in this chaotic geopolitical situation, and how we might be able to make changes in our own lives to create a more just world for everyone.

2026