Citation

Johari HG, Mohammadi AA. Burns 2010; 36(4): 585-6; author reply 586.

Affiliation

General Surgery Department, Trauma Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Science, P.O. Box 71345-1876, Shiraz, Iran.

Comment On:

10.1016/j.burns.2008.03.001

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.burns.2009.09.010

PMID

20005048

Abstract

Chaharshanbe-Suri is an ancient Iranian festival. This festival of fire is a prelude to the Norouz festival, which marks the arrival of spring and revival of nature. he tradition includes people going into the streets and alleys to make fires, and jump over them while singing a song of which the literal translation is: Your fiery red color is mine, and my sickly yellow paleness is yours. This is a purification rite and Suri itself means redness which hints at the color of fire. Loosely translated, this means you want the fire to take your paleness, sickness, and problems and in turn give you redness, warmth, and energy. Then bonfires are lit to keep the sun alive till early hours of the morning. There is no religious significance attached to Chaharshanbe-Suri and it serves as a cultural festival for all Iranians.

Every year we have many burn incidents during this festival in our country, Iran. Although several of these burns are minor and treated as outpatient, a significant number of patients require admission especially in firework-related injuries. It is a fact that Chaharshanbe-Suri is a cultural festival and many people celebrate it with their families and minor burns may occur during jumping over the fire. But in recent years, unfortunately some people specially the teenagers and young male adults use fireworks during this festival and sometimes it can cause tragic events such as injuries to the eye (with blindness in some cases) and hand (with amputation in some cases) associated with the burn.

Fortunately, recently these events have significantly reduced by public education programs via broadcasting systems. Also recently the police stated that using fireworks during this festival is a crime. As a result, for example in our burn center the number of admissions has reduced from 49 to 13 cases from year 2005–2008.

Language: en