Haft Sin Table

To celebrate the new year, families gather around a specially prepared holiday table to make wishes for the coming months. Items on the table refer to new life and renewal, and they are based around the number seven. Although the custom has evolved over the centuries and may have regional variations, at least seven basic items, each beginning with the letter s (sin in Persian), are traditionally placed on the haft sin table. Many of them also refer to the seven Zoroastrian immortals that guarded the sky, waters, earth, fire, plants, animals, and humans in ancient Iran.

Sib (apples) fertility and beauty
Sonbol (hyacinth) fragrance
Serkeh (wine vinegar) immortality and eternity
Senjed (wild olives) fertility and love
Sabzeh (wheat, barley, or lentil sprouts growing in a dish) rebirth
Samanu (wheat sprout pudding) sweetness
Sekkeh (coins) wealth

Other symbols of good luck can also be placed on the table, such as:
Garlic (seer), to bring good health
A gold fish, to mark the the passage from Pisces to Aries
A mirror, to reflect the light of wisdom and creation
A brazier, to burn wild rue, a sacred herb, and to ward off evil spirits
A book of poetry by the fourteenth-century writer Hafiz, whose poems are believed to predict the future
Rose water, to purify and sweeten
An orange floating in a bowl of water, to represent the earth floating in space
Candles, to symbolize holy fire
Decorated eggs, to represent fertility
A copy of the Koran, to signify prayers