Posts tagged : "Persian culture"

Kourosh Ziabari - Asia Times: Two high-ranking clerics in Iran have issued fatwas against the production of a movie based on the life of the 13th century Iranian poet and mystic Rumi and his spiritual mentor Shams Tabrizi, reigniting a long-simmering, divisive debate about the role of religious authorities in the public life of Iranians. Born in 1207, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi is a celebrated Persian poet, theologian and Islamic scholar whose didactic epic Masnavi-yi Maʿnavi (Spiritual Couplets), comprising six books of poetry that amount to 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines, has enormously influenced mystical thought and literature throughout the Muslim world and is commonly referred to as the “Persian Quran.” Rumi, known as...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: Nowruz is the ancient Iranian celebration of the new year. Although it is difficult to say with certainty when it was first marked, there are some accounts that suggest Nowruz may be 3,000 years old. Literally meaning “new day” in Persian, Nowruz is shared by several countries in West and Central Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and the Balkans, as well as the Iranian diaspora across the world. At the initiative of several countries celebrating this occasion, 21 March was declared International Nowruz Day by the United Nations in 2010, and since then the the Persian New Year has been marked at the organization’s headquarters in New York. In 2009, Nowruz was inscribed on the UNESCO’s...

Kourosh Ziabari - Centre for Journalism: What is Nowruz and how does it exactly work? It's a question asked in many different ways and many different responses have been given to it. To sum up, Nowruz (translated verbatim as "new day") is the name of the Iranian New Year and feasts and festivals associated with it. It's celebrated by some 300 million people worldwide, including in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and by Iranian diaspora in Europe and North America, Australia and elsewhere. Nowruz is the day of the vernal equinox and marks the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It usually falls on 21st March, which is a special day, because in 1970, the first Earth Day proclamation was...

Kourosh Ziabari - The Huffington Post: The countdown has started for the arrival of Nowruz. For starters, Nowruz, meaning “new day” in Persian, is a festival that marks the beginning of solar New Year, and is celebrated by around 300 million people in the Middle East, West Asia, Central Asia, Caucasus and parts of Eastern Europe, even though the Iranian Diaspora enshrine and observe it wherever they happen to be, whether in New York and San Francisco or Paris and Amsterdam. Nowruz is celebrated by the people of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and other countries, but it historically hailed from the Greater Iran and continues to be its foremost national holiday. Nowruz is an ancient...

Kourosh Ziabari - Fair Observer: The Middle East sits on a keg of gunpowder. Sectarian tensions, armed conflicts, violent extremism and foreign intervention continue to undermine the security of a region long coveted for its energy resources and geopolitical importance. Looking at the larger picture of regional developments, one can conclude that the Middle East is in dire need of peace and reconciliation before the worrying crises send it spiraling out of control. Even though the situation is so tense, the rest of the world cannot claim that it is impervious to the challenges and woes of the turbulent neighborhood. In a region marred by division and conflict, there is a unifying festival that has the potential to bind nations...

Kourosh Ziabari - Huffington Post: For those who are not closely familiar with the history of what is called the Middle East today, "Persia" mostly sounds like a weird and eccentric name that has to be looked for in the encyclopedias and textbooks. There are people to whom the word Persia resonates with some ancient geographical territory, but they're unable to locate it on the map. And of course there are people who are well aware that the word "Persia" was used since the fifth century BCE to describe one of the world's longest-standing and most venerable empires, inherited to the modern-day country that George W. Bush once said was part of an Axis of Evil: Iran. The Persian culture and its manifestations, which continue to...

Kourosh Ziabari - Huffington Post: Iran's vice-president and the head of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization has recently given an interview to The Associated Press, where he presented eye-opening statistics on Iran's tourism sector, promising that the country should get ready for a "tsunami" of foreign tourists in the coming months and years. Like almost every aspect of Iranian life and economy, tourism was also hit hard by the tormenting sanctions that the United States and the European Union slapped on the country over its contentious nuclear program. Traveling to Iran had become an aching challenge as many European airliners had suspended their flights to Iran's major cities, the hardline government of...

Kourosh Ziabari: A world-renowned British adventurer, filmmaker and Guinness World Records holder believes that the mainstream media don’t offer a fair and objective view of the world to their audience. Graham David Hughes said the mass media should not withhold truth from the public, but they are doing so in an unjust manner. “nternet should allow us all to research what we read in the news and learn about the background of any given story, but “research” for most people means simply finding a blog site or YouTube video that spoon-feeds their own preconceived opinions back to them!” Graham David Hughes who has set the record of visiting every country on earth without flying or a personal vehicle believes that Iran is one of...

Kourosh Ziabari: As Iran’s tourism industry grows steadily, the corporate media’s stereotypical portrayal of Iran becomes unpopular and sometimes ridiculed by the Western citizens. With the influx of foreign tourists into Iran, especially from the European countries, more people are getting familiar with the unseen face of Iran as a country with an ancient culture, civilization and several natural and cultural magnets unknown to the world. An Italian journalist and photographer, who has traveled to Iran in the recent years three times, says the media’s clichés about Iran are obsolete and tiresome. Angela Corrias believes that Iranians are civilized and educated people and hospitality is a significant part of their culture and...

Kourosh Ziabari: The Persian New Year has just started and the Iranians, Persian-speaking nations and many people across the Middle East and Central Asia are celebrating the arrival of spring and Nowruz. Nowruz is an ancient Iranian festival that marks the beginning of Vernal Equinox and the solar New Year. It’s observed by some 12 nations as well as Iranian Diaspora in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and elsewhere. Nowruz is a time for amicable family gatherings, exchanging of gifts, tasting special sweetmeat and cuisines, paying tribute to the dead, and visiting the holy shrines and practicing specific religious rituals including the recitation of a special prayer at the moment of the transition of the year. A...

Kourosh Ziabari - International Policy Digest: Italy’s former culture minister, Massimo Bray, has just concluded his second trip to Iran which he believes has been one of the most delightful and charming experiences in his lifetime. When Massimo Bray visited Iran in January of this year, he was a member of the cabinet of Prime Minister Enrico Letta; however, following the growing criticism of the prime minister’s economic policies and his tensions with the left-wing Secretary of the Democratic Party, Matteo Renzi, Letta resigned and the cabinet was reshuffled. Subsequently, Dario Franceschini replaced Massimo Bray. However, Bray’s enchantment with the Iranian culture and history and his fascination with the delicacy and...

Kourosh Ziabari: The former Italian Minister of Heritage, Cultural Activity and Tourism Massimo Bray believes that Iranian culture and civilization is unique and unparalleled in the world. When Massimo Bray visited Iran in January this year, he was a member of the Italian cabinet and the second Italian minister after the Foreign Minister Emma Bonino who would travel to Iran in the last 10 years. However, following the resignation of Enrico Letta as the Prime Minister and the reshuffling of the cabinet, he was automatically removed from his post and replaced by Dario Franceschini in the Matteo Renzi cabinet. Massimo Bray came to Iran to broaden and expand the cultural ties between Italy and Iran, the two countries that have...