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Iran is planning to hold the Persian Gulf national day and register the historical waterway on the country’s Spiritual Heritage list.

“The Persian Gulf day was marked on the national calendar during the previous president’s term in office, but no effort has been made to protect the Persian Gulf’s identity in recent years,” head of the Prominent Architects Society of Iran, Alireza Qahari told reporters.

“The waterway will be registered on Iran’s Spiritual Heritage list on the national Persian Gulf day on April 31, 2009,” he added.

“Unfortunately our hesitation in such activities has always caused others to lay claim to our national treasures therefore we must not allow the Persian Gulf to be registered as the Arab Gulf on the world list.”

Certain Persian Gulf littoral states have recently stepped up efforts to rename the waterway which historical documents show has always been the Persian Gulf.

Renowned Iranian vocalist Mohammad-Reza Shajarian is to perform in the city of Konya, where Persian poet Mowlavi has been laid to rest. Shajarian has been invited by the International Rumi Foundation and the 22nd-generation granddaughter of Mowlavi, Esin Bayru Celebi.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian

The poet, mystic and theologian Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Balkhi known as Mowlavi (1207-73) is famous for his six-volume book of poems Masnavi which is one of the greatest works of both Islamic mysticism and Persian literature.

Iran’s legendary vocalist will perform traditional Persian music for two nights, accompanied by Shahnaz ensemble.
The ensemble is composed of professional musicians such as Majid Derakhshani (Tar), Ramin Safaei (Santour), Mohammad Reza Ebrahimi (Lute), Sina Jahan Abadi and Kaveh Motamedian (Kamancheh), Shahou Andalibi (Ney), Hossein Rezai Nia (Daf), Mehrdad Nasehi (Gheychak), Hamed Afshari (Gheychak Bass), Radman Tavvakoli (Tar), Hamid Qanbari (Tonbak) and Mozhgan Shajarian (Setar).

Mohammad Reza Shajarian received UNESCO’s Mozart Medal in 2006 and the 1999 prestigious Golden Picasso Medal among other wards.

Iranian people annually commemorate Sheikh Muslih od-Din Sadi Shirazi (C. 1213-1291), one of the greatest figures of classical Persian literature, on April 21, which has been named Sadi Day.

Following is Maxim 34 from Sadi’s Gulistan translated by Richard Francis Burton:

When a sage comes in contact with fools, he must not expect to be honored, and if an ignorant man overcomes a sage in an oratorical contest, it is no wonder, because even a stone breaks a jewel.

What wonder is there that the song
Of a nightingale ceases when imprisoned with a crow

Or that a virtuous man under the tyranny of vagabonds
Feels affliction in his heart and is irate.

Although a base stone may break a golden vase,
The price of the stone is not enhanced nor of the gold lost.

“Beyond Darkness,” the memoirs written by the prominent Iranian vocalist Pari Zanganeh, was unveiled during a ceremony on Tuesday.
Known as Pari Zanganeh, Iranian opera singer Parirokh Shahyalani lost her sight in 1972 in a car accident and later on after her blindness, recorded her memories in the book.
The ceremony was held by Bokhara Literary Bimonthly at the magazine’s office on April 9. During the ceremony the editor-in-chief of the bimonthly Ali Dehbashi, referring to Zanganeh’s car accident in 1972 during which she lost her sight, said that she did not become despondent after the event.

She proved that being blind or having any other physical disability would not hamper a human being’s activities and his or her creativity, Dehbashi mentioned.

He mentioned Zanganeh’s world-wide achievements in traditional Persian music and also expressed appreciation for her achievements in the methodical restoration of Iran’s regional and folk songs.

“The most powerful personal motivation for writing my memoirs in this book following my blindness is to acquaint Iranians with the world of the blind and their problems,” Zanganeh mentioned during the event.

She went on to say that she has confronted many problems after that accident since she always wanted to prove that she is the same person as before the accident and she has not changed.

“I do not intend to say that the car accident and my blindness was a tragic event in my life. On the contrary, I want to say that I have been more hopeful than before and have actually enjoyed talking about it,” she said.

There are many active NGOs for blind people in Iran that hold several educational classes for them but unfortunately, the blind people’s rights are not protected with the urbanization of Iranian cities, she lamented.

Born in 1939 in Kermanshah, Zanganeh learned to sing from Samin Baghtcheban and she became a soprano singer. Afterwards, she traveled to Italy to continue her music education. Although she lost her sight in an accident in 1972, she completed her education in the field of operatic music.

She has performed pieces composed by many renowned musicians, including Morteza Hananeh, Faramarz Paivar, Fereydun Shahbazian and Majid Enetzami.

On the eve of the Persian New Year a selection of Jalal al-din Rumi’s poems has been published in Swedish. The book is entitled “Vassflöjtens sång” (The Song of the Reed) and includes the most famous poems of “Divan-e Shams” and “Masnavi-ye ma’navi”.

“Vassflöjtens sång” first appeared in 2001 and received very positive reviews in the Swedish press. This year it has been selected by the Swedish Arts Council for the series “World Classics” (Alla tiders klassiker) which means that it will be used as a textbook for literature classes in Swedish high schools.

Jalal al-din Rumi is the first Persian writer to appear in this series and with its publication the majority of Swedish high school students will become familiar with the poetry and philosophy of this much-admired poet. Dr. Ashk Dahlén who has translated the poems has previously published translations of Hafez into Swedish. He is currently researcher in Persian literature at the Swedish Royal Academy of Letters and also teaches Persian at Stockholm University.

Dahlén received the Global Village Award from the Abraham Foundation for “Vassflöjtens sång” in 2002.
“Vassflöjtens sång” can be ordered from Ellerströms Publishing:

www.ellerstroms.se
E-mail: info@ellerstroms.se
Tel. 0046-46-323295

Farhang Foundation, a recently established non-profit organization focused on celebrating Iranian art and culture in Southern California honored Professor Ehsan Yarshater with the Heritage Award 2009 as part if its Nowruz (Persian New Year) program on Saturday, March 14, 2009 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Professor Yarshater is world renowned as the creator and editor of the Encyclopaedia Iranica, a work thirty years in the making that is chronicling and preserving Persian Heritage. He is also the Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University and Director of its Center for Iranian Studies. He has authored and served as the editor of numerous scholarly works.

Among others he has authored Persian Poetry in the Second Half of the 15th Century (1953), Southern Tati Dialects (1970), and has edited the third volume of Cambridge History of Iran, in two parts, covering the Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian periods (1983,1986), and Persian Literature (1988). He is the General Editor of the 40-volume Tabari Translation Project, and the Founding Editor of the Persian Text Series, the Persian Heritage Series and the Persian Studies Series. Lecture series in his name have been instituted at Harvard, the University of London, and the University of California at Los Angeles.

The Farhang Foundation Heritage Award 2009 recognized Professor Yarshater’s tremendous contributions to the study of Iranian civilization and the creation of the Encyclopaedia Iranica, a record of Persian Heritage.
“It is significant for us to have one of the foremost scholars of Iranian civilization to be our first recipient of the Farhang Foundation Heritage Award. Professor Yarshater has studied and written about Iran in its various aspects, for the past sixty years; his Encyclopaedia Iranica will ensure the recording of almost every aspect of this rich and ancient civilization.”, said Touraj Daryaee, President of Farhang Foundation.

The Foundation plans on presenting this award annually to an individual who contributes similarly to the history and culture of Iran.
Professor Yarshater was presented with an official award certificate and the Farhang Foundation Heritage Medal by the Foundation’s Chairman; Ali C. Razi, President; Touraj Daryaee and Board of Trustee member, Darioush Khaledi who chaired this year’s Award Committee.

Nowruz or Nowroz (Persian: نوروز) meaning ‘New Day’ is the traditional Iranian new year holiday celebrated by Iranian people and initiated in Ancient Iran. It is a major part of the Iranian peoples’ rich culture and one of the cornerstones of the eastern civilisations. The ancient Iranians marked the last ten days of the solar year in a solemn ceremony of mourning (Farvardgan) to signify the end of life. This was followed by the festival of Norouz that in contrast celebrated the rebirth of nature, signifying the rebirth of life and this was a great occasion for celebration and joy.

Today, the festival of Nowruz is celebrated in many countries that were territories of, or influenced by, the Persian Empire: Iran, kurdistan, Afghanistan, parts of the Middle East, as well as in the former Soviet republics of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
It is also celebrated by the Zoroastrians as well by certain Iranic inhabitants in Pakistan’s Chitral region and the Iranian immigrants from Shiraz in Zanzibar.

In Turkey, it is called Nevruz in Turkish, Uyghurs who live in In Northwestern China called it as ” Noruz”, Sultan Nevruz in Albanian. In some remote communities located in parts of western Iran, the holiday is referred to as Nuroj, which literally means New Day in the Kurdish language.

It also called and spelled Norouz, Narooz, Nowruz, Nawruz, Newroz, Newruz, Nauruz, Nawroz, Noruz, Novruz, Nauroz, Navroz, Naw-Rúz, Nowroj, Navroj, Nevruz, Neyruz, Navruz, Navrez, Nooruz, Nauryz, Nowrouz, or Biram.

Nowruz or Nowroz marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the Iranian year. It is celebrated on the day of the astronomical vernal equinox (the start of spring in the northern hemisphere), which usually occurs on March 21 or the previous/following day depending on where it is observed.
As well as being a Zoroastrian holiday and having significance amongst the Zoroastrian ancestors of modern Iranian, it is also a holy day for Alawites, Alevis, Nizari Ismaili Muslims and adherents of the Bahai Faith.

The term Nowruz or Nowroz first appeared in Persian records in the second century AD, but it was also an important day during the time of the Achaemenids (c. 648-330 BC), where kings from different nations under the Persian empire used to bring gifts to the emperor (Shahanshah) of Persia on Nowruz.

The Zoroastrians of ancient Persia celebrated the creation of life by offering their god, Ahura Mazda, seven trays filled with symbolic objects representing truth, justice, good thoughts, good deeds, virtue, prosperity, generosity and immortality.

One of the rock reliefs of the staircases in Persepolis depicts a procession of Median dignitaries on their way to the festival of Norouz, carrying ceremonial and symbolic offerings.

The first day on the Iranian calendar falls on the March equinox i.e. the exact moment when the earth has completed one revolution of the Sun, the first day of spring. At the time of the equinox, the sun is observed to be directly over the equator, and the north and south poles of the Earth lie along the solar terminator; sunlight is evenly divided between the north and south hemispheres.

Today, the Nowruz or Nowroz tradition is continued through the setting of a special table or spread with an arrangement of specific symbolic items, seven of which have names that start with the Persian letter Seen (s). These are:

Sabzeh: Wheat or lentils grown in a tray or dish prior to Norouz to represent rebirth.
Samanu: A sweet pudding made from wheat germ, symbolising affluence.
Senjed: The dried fruit of the oleaster tree which represents love.
Seer: (garlic in Persian) represents medicine.
Seeb: (apple in Persian) represents beauty and health.
Somaq: Sumac berries, which represent the colour of the sun rise.
Serkeh: (vinegar in Persian) represents age and patience.
Sonbol: (The hyacinth flower in Persian) with its strong fragrance heralding the coming of spring.
Sekkeh: (Coins in Persian) representative of wealth and prosperity.

Irans Zoroastrian community held the Jashn-e-Sadeh Festival for celebrating the discovery of fire on the 10th of the Iranian month of Bahman (Jan. 29).



Considered one of the biggest Persian festivities in ancient times, Jashn-e-Sadeh (also known as the day of kindness) is celebrated by Zoroastrians throughout the world.

Sadeh is a mid-winter festival celebrated 50 days before Norouz (the Persian New Year starting on March 21) to honor fire and to defeat darkness and cold. The name Sadeh, meaning hundred in Persian, refers to the total of 100 days and nights left to the beginning of the New Year.

The festival dates back to the time of Houshang, the first Kianid king who discovered how to light a fire.
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Iranians annually celebrate the Hafez Day on October 11, during which they gather and hold talks on the poetry, thoughts, and life of Hafez.

Khwaja Shams-ud-din Mohammed Hafez e Shirazi, Hafiz or simply Hafez (Persian: خواجه شمس‌الدین محمد حافظ شیرازی), was a Persian mystic and poet. He was born in Shiraz in south-western Persia (modern Iran) in approximately 1320 A.D., twenty two years before the birth of Chaucer and a year before the death of Dante.

He was named Shams-ud-din, which means ‘Sun of Faith,’ Mohammed. Later when he began to write poetry he selected Hafez for his pen-name or takhallus. ‘Hafez’ is the title given to one who has learnt the whole of the Koran by heart and Hafez claimed to have done this in fourteen different ways.

John Payne, who has translated the Dīwān Hāfez, regards Hafez as the greatest poet of the world. His lyrical poems, known as ghazals, are noted for their beauty and bring to fruition the love, mysticism, and early Sufi themes that had long pervaded Persian poetry. Moreover, his poetry possessed elements of modern surrealism. More