Leave for Khomein to experience snow!

Natural phenomena around us always make good reasons to have get-togethers and traditional gatherings. You might like to enjoy them most in spring and summer but in autumn and winter , too, they can be a source of happiness among people.
Residents of Khomein have an interesting and different custom on cold autumn and winter days. Once it snows for the first time in the clod seasons, they send a little snow over to their friends and relatives with new tricks and surprising ways.
They wrap some snow in a packet and put it in a bowl. They ask a kid boy to take it and teach him the tricks to surprise the receiver and run away. The crafty boy says hi , keeping a straight face, and says: “ my mum has cooked Ash ( kind of Persian soup) and we’d like to share it.” He then gives the bowl and says” “please empty it and bring the bowl back!”
If the landlord took it, the boy would run away saying: you lose! He shouts: stop the boy. If they took him , they would black his face with smoke powder or charcoal and then let him go. The loser, anyway, should make Ash-e Reshte ( a Persian dish made with kashk, herbs such as parsley, spinach, dill, spring onion ends and sometimes coriander, chick peas) and take it to the sender of snow bowl.
It is still common especially in the village of Imamzade Yujan. Anthropologists believe that there is a philosophy behind it. Some consider the ritual as a sign of blessing. The old tradition is good news and a reward to people whose finance hugely depends on rain and snow as their income is earned through agriculture, farming and gardening.
Various seasons have long been important in the Persian calendar and ancient celebrations. Our descendants were so dependent on precious water that with the first snow in autumn, they would put it in a container and present it to their relatives. Snow tradition wasn’t a mere entertainment, but rather a sign of respect to water.
Anjuy-e Shirazi in his book, done by Amir Kabir publication, talks of the old custom:
“ In the past, as soon as it snowed and covered the ground, the women in the village in the province of Markazi wrapped a little snow in a piece of cloth and gave it to boys between 7 and 14 years old and taught him how to deliver it so that the receiver wouldn’t realize.
The boy took it to the house of an acquaintance or relative and handed it over to the housewife. Once she was untying it, he would instantly rush away. Since if she knew it was snow in it, she would go after him. If she took him , she would darken him with Tah dig( burnt portion adhering to the pan) or kohl. If she couldn’t take him, she was then a loser. She would make Ash and go over to the sender and appreciate him saying:” come over to have Ash. “ but if the boy came back home black faced, the sender would immediately prepare ingredients to make Ash. “