Ab Pashounak or splashing water: Ceremony to mark beginning of summer

Ancient Iranian people used to celebrate the beginning of every season in groups, including summer.   

At the beginning of summer, the sun rises from its highest position on the northeast horizon and falls to its highest place on the northwest horizon. People of the ancient Iran had a particular attachment to cosmic phenomena and brought them to their daily lives, rituals and beliefs; and many rituals and celebrations were held at this time.

Although many of such age-old ceremonies have been faded away today, the beginning of summer is still celebrated as “Ab Pashounak” or Splashing Water in Arak, Farahan, Mahallat and many other cities in the central Iran. It is called “Avval Toestooni” (the beginning of the summer) and many participate in this ceremony by splashing water to each other.

There are also other forgotten ceremonies in Iran to mark the beginning of the summer. In the sixth day of Tir (the fourth month of solar calendar and the first month of the summer), there was a ceremony that Iranian scholar and polymath Abu Rayḥan al-Biruni also spoke of it, and it was called ‘Ceremony of Lotus’ which was related to the flourishing of lotus at the beginning of the summer.

There was also ‘Eid Mah’ (the ceremony of the moon) where the people from Savadkouh and some other mountainous regions in Tabarestan and Mazandaran Province of Iran celebrated it by making fires on the mountains.  

The ritual of ‘Goje Arous’ (bride tomato) or ‘Gol Arous’ (bride flower) was also held in some parts of Iran’s Khorasan Province and the west of Afghanistan. During this ceremony, they celebrated the beginning of the summer by giving the fruits, flour, and rock candy to the newlywed brides.

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