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Happy mayhem
Photo essay: Trip to Iran during Noruz

Shadi Bahar
May 5, 2006
iranian.com

These photos are of the Tajrish Bazaar, just hours before Noruz 1385. Street vendors were given special permission to sell their products on the sidewalk for the new year, and I saw not only "7 Seen" related items (which were so lovely to see), but ladies wigs, (the seller was wearing one to demonstrate), men’s pajamas and button downs, ladies Gypsy skirts and scarves, socks, dolls, music, blankets, and even "unmentionables" in every color under the sun. (And although my jaw hit the asphalt with shock, all types of ladies were browsing and bargaining alike without the slightest sense of discomfort).

This one hour stroll around the bazaar with my cousin and camera was one of the best hours of my trip. After 21 years, I was in Tehran for Noruz. And amidst the happy mayhem that I yearn for every spring, I breathed in the new year and spent the last hours of the winter awaiting its arrival near a homemade, homegrown "7 Seen". For those of you who earnestly try to create a magical and festive Noruz, but feel something lacking as I often do, I wish that your next Noruz may be spent in Iran. And for those of you who can’t be there, I give you my humble gift of these few photographs. Happy belated Noruz.