About Chaharshanbe Suri NYC
Chaharshanbe Suri, or the “Festival of Fire,” is a traditional festival from West and Central Asia. It serves as a prelude to Nowruz, which signifies the arrival of the spring season. The celebration of Chahar Shanbeh Suri usually begins in the evening, with people creating bonfires in the streets and leaping over them.
Now, we brought this tradition with over 2000 years of history to, celebrating the spring and the cultural gathering through art, music, food, culture, and intergenerational sharing.
Let’s bring back Châhârshanbe Suri
Chaharshanbe Suri is a celebration of our communities, culture, and hope, dedicating to all the brave people in Iran, Afghanistan, and beyond. Our commitment to bring NYC the authentic, mesmorizing, and accessible experience will be possible thanks to donations from people like you.
Aresh Javadi, Artist and Director of the More Gardens Fund:
“One of my favorite memories is in Shiraz, when I was six years old, jumping through fires that were taller than me! It was mesmerizing and invigorating.”
Chaharshanbe Suri’s History
‘Chaharshanbeh Suri’ meaning Scarlet Wednesday in Persian, is a multi-religious and multicultural celebration ushering in the coming of the New Year celebrated by New Yorkers of Afghan, Iranian, Kurdish, and Central Asian origin from Islamic, Zoroastrian, Christian, Jewish and Baha’i communities, as well as by Zoroastrians of South Asian background known as Parsis. It is celebrated by these communities throughout North America and diaspora nations, as well as in their countries of origin.
For More Details…
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Châhârshanbe Suri (Persian: چهارشنبه سوری) is an ancient fire jumping festival that some believe the ritual belongs to Zoroastrians. But some say its roots go way back into the ancient Persian culture when people followed Mithraism, possibly before. Of the diverse Iranian, Kurdish, Armenian, Afghan, Azerbaijani, and other peoples worldwide who celebrate Noruz, some also celebrate Chaharshanbe Suri, particularly those of Iran, Azerbaijan, and the diaspora.
The event takes place on the eve of the last Tuesday Night of the year to usher in Nowruz (New Year), which is celebrated on the Spring Equinox. Just before the Spring Equinox, bonfires are lit in the streets, and people jump through them to exorcize the old year and its misfortunes and bring about the world’s regeneration.
Chahārshanbeh means Wednesday, and Suri means red. Literally, on the eve of ‘Red Wednesday’ before Nowrooz, bonfires are lit as people leap over the flames, shouting:
“Sorkhi-ye to az man; Zardi-ye man az to
(Give me your regenerative red color; taking away my weakness).”
Each person must face one’s ultimate fears and does so by jumping over the fire – a living symbol of health, cultivation, and purification. That cleansing act is necessary before the advent of Spring and the Vernal Equinox. -
More Gardens! had celebrated the onset of the Spring Equinox at community gardens in NYC since 1999, when we defended the community gardens from wholesale destruction by the Guliani administration and worked to preserve the majority of them for generations to come. Led by Iranian-born community garden activist and artist Aresh Javadi, the celebration soon took hold in the hearts of community gardeners of all ethnicities. More Gardens and Aresh also began hosting fire jumping on the Lower East Side.
Over the years, the number of participants grew to the point that we had to make it an official event. Our last Persian Fire Festival, held in person in 2018, was done with a contingent of dedicated Iranian, Afghani, Kurdish, and others of the Persian diaspora, as well as African American, Latinx, and European American volunteers to bring the cultural and artistic elements of this festival together. In 2020 and 2021, hundreds of attendees kept our hearts burning together through Zoom festivals.
In 2025, we are excited to celebrate our twenty-sixth year of bringing together thousands of Iranians and members of the Persian diaspora to leap over fires with community gardeners and the public. We are excited to share our celebration of the joys of Persian culture with all New Yorkers through our communal welcoming of spring and the reawakening of nature.
Meet the Team
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Aresh Javadi
ARTISTIC PRODUCER & FIRE ALTAR ARTIST
Aresh is a community environmental justice artist, activist, and educator from Shiraz, Iran. Aresh cultivates earth-based arts such as living willow structures rooted in sacred geometry and public celebrations to work collaboratively with communities in need of green spaces. Some of his works include Simorgh and The Tree of Life.
Up til today, he had preserved and revitalized over 500 community gardens in NYC.
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Joules Magus
FIRE PRODUCER & PERFORMER
Joules is an Azerbaijani fire performer and producer based in NYC. She is known for her charismatic energy, innovative choreography, and commitment to safety.
Having produced some of the largest theatrical fire shows in NYC, she leverages her technical expertise to constantly push the boundaries of fire. As a master of her craft, Joules continues to inspire and innovate, using fire as a medium for connection, spirituality, and artistic expression.
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Kayhan Irani (2023)
PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITY THEATER DIRECTOR
Kayhan is a writer, storyteller, mother, and grassroots cultural worker. For the past twenty years, she has used the tools of participatory theater and storytelling to develop grassroots leaders and make transformative change.
She co-creates spaces that build community, offer healing, and that re-connect participants to their innate creative power. Her artistic work brings people together to deepen relationships with each other through story.
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Amir Vahab
MUSIC PERFORMER
The New York Times calls him the “ambassador for a silenced music.” Honored as a peacemaker and virtuoso, Amir Vahab is a composer/vocalist and lecturer specializing in various traditional Persian instruments: the tanbur, ney, daf, tar, and oud.
Amir is noted for his expertise in Persian culture and history and for the spirituality present in his music and teachings. Amir has been described as “one of the world’s most revered players and composers of Persian folk music.” Amir is the leader and principal player of the Amir Vahab Ensemble.
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More Gardens Fund sits on unceded Indigenous land, specifically the homeland of the Lenape peoples. We acknowledge the genocide and continued displacement of Indigenous peoples during the colonial era and beyond. The island of Mannahatta in Lenapehoking has long been a gathering place for Indigenous people to trade and maintain kinship ties. Today, these communities continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions, and care for the land and waterways as sacred.
We acknowledge today’s Lenape communities include Lenape people of the Delaware Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma; the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin; the Munsee-Delaware Nation, Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and Delaware of Six Nations in Ontario.