month prior to the festival. each tuesday people celebrate the day of one of the four elements - water, fire, earth and wind. people do house cleaning, plant trees, make new dresses, paint eggs, and make national pastries such as shekerbura, pakhlava, shorgoghal, in additional to a great variety of national cuisine. wheat is fried with kishmish (raisins) and nuts (govurga). as a tribute to pre-islamic zoroastrian beliefs, every tuesday during the four weeks before the holiday, children jump over small bonfires and candles are lit. on the holiday eve, the graves of relatives are visited and tended.