Every culture has a story for the moment winter ends. In Iran, it is the bittersweet tale of Naneh Sarma, Granny Winter, and Amu Nowruz, the kind old man who brings spring.

It is told in many versions. Here is the one most families know, short enough for bedtime.

The story of Naneh Sarma

On the last day of winter, Naneh Sarma wakes before sunrise. She sweeps the house, waters the flowers and sets a beautiful Haft-Sin, because today Amu Nowruz is coming: her dear friend, who visits only once a year.

She waits and waits beside the warm korsi. The room is cosy, the day is long, and slowly her eyes close. Naneh Sarma falls asleep.

Amu Nowruz arrives with his white beard, his felt hat and his walking stick. He finds her sleeping so peacefully that he doesn’t have the heart to wake her. He adds a glowing coal to the fire, tastes a little from the table, leaves a flower by her side, and goes on his way to bring spring to everyone else.

When Naneh Sarma wakes, the sun is warm and the room smells of flowers, and she knows she has missed him again. And so winter ends and spring begins. “Next year,” she says, “I will stay awake.”

What the story tells us

Winter and spring can never quite meet: when one arrives, the other has to go. The story turns the change of seasons into something a child can feel: a little sadness, a lot of warmth, and the promise that spring always comes.

Is Amu Nowruz like Santa Claus?

Children in Canada and the US often ask this. A little! Both are kind old men with white beards who come once a year. But Amu Nowruz brings spring itself. In many families, children wake on Nowruz morning to find a small gift or some eidi that he “left behind”.

Sharing the story at home

  • Tell it at bedtime in the last week of winter, and ask: “What would you put on the table for Amu Nowruz?”
  • Draw Naneh Sarma’s room together, or act the story out with soft toys.
  • Leave a flower or a small gift by your child’s bed on Nowruz morning, “from Amu Nowruz”.
  • Tell it in Persian with simple words, and use the same lines every year. Repetition is how children learn a language.