Tu BiShvat

Culture of origin: Jewish · Cultural

Holiday sources: Iran · Israel · Judaism

Tu BiShvat, the 15th of Shevat, is one of the four new years named in the Mishnah: the new year for trees. Its first purpose was to tell one year's fruit from the next, to reckon the tithes and the age of fruit trees. In Israel today it is also a day of ecological awareness, when trees are planted.