Charshanbe Suri Postponed to March 16th, 2023 at El Jardin del Paraiso

Beloved friends, our fire-jumping companion,

Wellness and love you and all you hold dear to your heart. FDNY has mandated us to postpone today's event due to gale-force winds. We have rescheduled Charshanbe Suri to Thursday, March 16th, and are now mobilizing volunteers for that day.

***PLEASE email us at Rose@moregardens.org if you cannot attend on Thursday. Many folks are eager for an open slot!***

All other details regarding the event will remain the same.

If you are able to volunteer with us between 1:00 pm to 11:00 pm, please let us know by responding to the Rose@moregardens.org email!

More Gardens and Aresh Javadi @areshearth

We ensure that we meet the highest safety requirements and work closely with FDNY, who will be present throughout the event. Below is the required waiver form needed for all participants:

Chaharshanbe Suri Mailing List

You will be receiving updates and exciting news on our upcoming Charshanbe Suri Festival!

More Gardens! has celebrated the onset of Spring Equinox at community gardens of NYC since 1998 as we defended the wholesale destruction of the community gardens during the Guliani administration. Over the past two decades of our fire festival being held at NYC community gardens, we’ve brought together hundreds of Iranians and members of the Persian diaspora, joined by community gardeners and the public. This traditional Persian Spring celebration highlights joyful and inclusive Middle Eastern American culture with traditional music, food, and dance, bringing New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds together in a spirit of cultural celebration.  This is a wonderful opportunity for the Middle Eastern American community to celebrate and welcome all others into the joys of Persian culture.

Our last Persian Fire Festival (video above), held in person in 2019, was done with the full participation of the NY Fire Dept., garnering attention from the media. The 2020 and 2021 Zoom festivals also had hundreds of participants eager to make our next post-pandemic live festival the best yet.

More Gardens! has celebrated the onset of Spring Equinox at community gardens of NYC since 1998 as we defended the wholesale destruction of the community gardens during the Guliani administration. Over the past two decades of our fire festival being held at NYC community gardens, we’ve brought together hundreds of Iranians and members of the Persian diaspora, joined by community gardeners and the public. This traditional Persian Spring celebration highlights joyful and inclusive Middle Eastern American culture with traditional music, food, and dance, bringing New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds together in a spirit of cultural celebration.  This is a wonderful opportunity for the Middle Eastern American community to celebrate and welcome all others into the joys of Persian culture.

Our last Persian Fire Festival (video above), held in person in 2019, was done with the full participation of the NY Fire Dept., garnering attention from the media. The 2020 and 2021 Zoom festivals also had hundreds of participants eager to make our next post-pandemic live festival the best yet.

Charshanbe Suri free Online Event March 16th, 2021

Beloved friends, our fire jumping companion,

Wellness and love you and all you hold dear to your heart. We are close to our transformative day where we take the flame to our hearts. 

We lovingly invite you to this year’s online Chaharshanbe Suri on Tuesday, March 16th, from 7-8.30 pm. 

We are happy to let you know Amir Vahab, our distinguished composer/vocalist of Sufi and folk music will once again be performing live with us. We are looking forward to your interactive participation during this year’s online community gathering.

Oh, and by donating (any amount) on the ticket page you will get this year's video compilation sent to you for keeping.

More Gardens and Aresh Javadi

Chaharshanbe Suri 2020 Update :

More Gardens! Fund & La Plaza Cultural de Armando Perez Community Garden Joint Letter

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Dear friends of Chaharshanbe Suri

With hearts filled with the loving fire of gratitude for all of our community, we have decided to cancel our event until next year’s Spring Eve of 2021. This difficult decision was made after looking deeply into our hearts and wanting the best for our youngest newborns, our beloved elders, and all of those in-between’s wellbeing and consideration. (Please see www.flattenthecurve.com for more epidemiological details of how this strategy is the most sound and informed one for keeping all of us safe and well at this time.)

Despite our sadness, the red fire of our community is transforming us anew!  We are poised to make our event even more magical than ever next year, with plenty of room for everyone at a a bigger park.  This was the first year we have gone fully visible, with support and backing by our elected officials. This year our two Chaharshanbe Suri communities in the LES led by Simin Farkhondeh of La Plaza Cultural Center de Armando Perez and Aresh Javadi of More Gardens Fund and their communities joined forces together to overcome our original challenge of being unable to use our LES community gardens due to ongoing lease negotiations with the Parks Department. Amazingly our team negotiated by Simin was able to get approval for the Sarah Roosevelt Park with great support from GreenThumb’s Deputy Director Carlos Martinez, working along with Sam Biederman, Assistant Commissioner for Community & Partnerships and finally Anthony Sama director of Park’s Special Events. Carolina Rivera’s office and particularly her budget director Katie Loeb went out of their way to advocate for our event to the Parks Department and was helping us figure out the logistics of insurance and other more complex park requirements. Her office fully supports our decision to cancel and looks forward to supporting the realization of our event next year.

In adversity, the LaPlaza and More Gardens team came together, and in unity were able to create a new possibility of the larger Park space to accommodate the ever-growing enthusiasm and number of both the Iranian, Afghan, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Kurdish, and Zoroastrian diaspora and the many new fans who have been enchanted by this transformative event.
As we leap over our little candles in our separate spaces on Tuesday, we hold all of us together, singing and leaping the flames in joy and celebration of the coming year, and all of our prayers and wishes for wellness the fire brings us will surely be felt amongst us all.Please stay in touch, send us your pictures of candle jumping to gladden our hearts, and please sign up to be a part of next year’s planning.

Wishing you and your loved ones a safe and joyous Spring and Nowruz/New Year,

Simin Farkhondeh, Events Committee and Board Member of La Plaza Cultural Center & Aresh Javadi, Executive Director of More Gardens Fund


Chaharshanbe Suri, the Persian kick-off to the Spring Equinox gathers hundreds of Iranian Americans and members of the Persian diaspora, along with their friends and family, who are joined by community gardeners from the far reaches of the globe in the community garden on NYC's Lower East Side for this fire festival.

Check out several videos covering our events of the years: 2016:  Village Voice News, 2018 Nowruz on NPR@1:07:00 2018, WPIX Persian New Year@La Plaza

Chaharshanbe Suri 2019

More Gardens Fund, after 16 years, skipped hosting the 2019 Chaharshanbe Suri due to our ongoing exciting new Upstate Ecovillage Project, a need for a larger location, and fundraising support. Please either use the Sign Up Link or let Aresh at aresh@moregardens.org or 917-518-9987 know if you'd like to join the 2020 Chaharshanbe Suri Organizing Committee in a larger NYC park such as Central Park! ALTERNATIVE FIRE JUMPING FOR 2019, Our friend Simin is holding a fire jumping event in NYC:
On Tuesday, March 19, at dusk at Firemen's Memorial Garden, 360 E8th St between Aves C & D. Go early as it may get very crowded.
Below Excerpt is from our last year's Chaharshanbeh Suri 2018, We look forward to making the 2020 the most awesome year to come…..

Chaharshanbe Suri 2018

March 2018: Breaking News,More Gardens! have after many years of advocacy been granted the first NYC administration permitted Chaharshanbeh Suri !!!  Contact: Aresh Javadi (917) 518-9987 

What: Châhârshanbe Suri (Persian: چهارشنبه ‌سوری) is a fire jumping festival celebrated by Iranian and Iranic peoples across the world. The event takes place on the eve of the last Tuesday Night, March 13th to usher Nowruz New Year, celebrated on the Vernal Equinox.

Literally, the eve of 'Red Wednesday', the bonfires are lit Tuesday night in public places with the help of fire and light, enlightenment and happiness throughout the coming year are called in. People leap over the flames, shouting: Sorkhi-ye to az man; Zardi-ye man az to (The red of yours is mine (Give me your transformative energizing/wellness red color); The yellow of mine is yours (I let go of my unwellness into the transformative fire).

Performers:

Amir Vahab Ensemble: distinguished composer/vocalists of Sufi and folk music Fire performance by the magnificent Cinder Petrichor, one of the most unique and versatile fire performers in the industry
More Details: Chaharshanbeh Suri Facebook Link

We'd like to deeply thanks the community gardeners of El Jardin del Paraiso, the GreenThumb Parks program, FDNY, our fire producer Cinder Petrichor, the Iranian diaspora, and the open spirit of community and justice for all people.

Chaharshanbe Suri 2017

News Article: Aresh Javadi had not yet begun to start the first of three fires at sundown, when…. Village Voice news article by Anita Abedian