House cleaning for spring:

We have this custom which we call khoonetekooni.... It means house shaking in word by word translation. But actually it is a tradition of cleaning the house completely before the New Year (Norooz) comes.
This is rather because we believe that you go through the year the way you started it.... it means if you have a clean house at the exact time of new year, you are supposed to have a clean one all through the year. Or you will be doing whatever you are doing at the moment of New Year. That's a generally accepted belief & who dares to say someone's belief is superstition?
Remind me to explain a bit more about Persian calendar.... It is really interesting & that’ll explain about the seasons & all!
What does really khoonetekooni means? What we do for house cleaning? Basically you wash & clean everything in the house. It usually takes the whole Esfand (last month of the year) for us to do the cleaning. Because my parents are both working & well, my dad doesn't like us to have maids in the house. (He has some strange ideas about social ranking & ... he believes that while we are healthy enough to do the cleaning & renovations, there is no need to have someone does it.)
During this month the walls will be washed & if they would need painting, they will be painted. All the windows would be totally sparkling & spotless. The extra dishes –which are not probably used all year round- would be rinsed & re-located in their cupboards & cabinets. The cabinets, dressers & closets are all cleaned. Even the attic would be unsoiled & reorganized. The carpets are swabbed & they sometimes they would even be rinsed.
I dare say the worst part of house cleaning is washing the curtains! You know they must be washed, rinsed, hang down to dry & then ironed! After that it takes a whole day to hang them back on the place! Mom always says we live in glass house... the saloon alone has got five usual windows & 3 French windows & need 25m of cloth for one set of curtains... you see? To my relief, we have bought a new set of curtains that will be delivered in the last week of the year so we don't have to go through the usual curtain-washings!
Most of the time, the decoration of the house is changed by rearranging of the furniture. I, myself, change my room decorations every year by using new set of sheets & matching curtains. I also move my bed, desk & bookcase around the room. So my room-cleaning is usually the longest & most time-consuming of them all, if we dont count the kitchen. The easiest one is terrace, I guess. The only thing to be done is to swab & wash the floor & set the chairs around the table.
I love this season... the mood of cleaning & waiting for the New Year. It always makes you want to do something, to change & renew your surrounding. Katherine always says the air smells like khoonetekooni! I think she is right. A few days ago, I was walking down the street & I suddenly felt that I should dance instead of walking. It's the weather & the mood of New Year. I will right more about this mood. & yeah; there is the Festival of Fire (Chahar-Shanbeh Soori) in tow weeks.... Life is wonderful!