Noruz mobarak!

Last friday morning (USA time), all Iranians celebrated Noruz, their new year! So...

HAPPY NORUZ!
or (now in Farsi)
NORUZ MOBARAK!

(No=New, Ruz=Day ==> Noruz = new day)

We are now in the year 1388. Yay!

(the actual calender details are really interesting like the fact that the first 6 months have 31 days and the last 6 have 30 days, last month can change by one day if it is a leap year. The day distribution is due to the fact that the sun moves slightly more slowly along the ecliptic in the northern spring and summer than in the northern autumn and winter)

Now I am going to give you all a history lesson. Gather around my little lambs and let me tell you all a story...

Noruz goes all the way back to the Achaemenid era (founded by Cyrus the Great) and was one of the important festivals of the Zorasterians (which was founded in that era).
In harmony with rebirth of nature, Noruz always begins on the first day of spring; more precisely, it is celebrated on the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day. So the precise time of Noruz varies form year to year, depending on where you are on the planet, though it is somewhere in the time window of 21st of March, plus or minus a day.
I don't know any other new year which is so precise, do you?

Some of the activities during Noruz are spring cleaning, buying new cloths, painting eggs, family reunion, giving presents, visiting neighbors and friends and celebrating by having a picnic on the 13th day of Spring.
Just like the xmas tree and the nativity scenes for christmas, Iranians have a Noruz spread, called the haftsin (haft=7, sin=the sound of the letter 's'==> haftsin=the 7 's's) where families gather around as the new year rings in.
Haftsin consists of a spread with 7 items, all starting with the letter 's'. Haftsin represents renewal, happiness, wealth, good health, and other things which are desired for the new year. The items on the haftsin are:

• sabzeh - wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish - symbolizing rebirth
• samanu - a sweet pudding made from wheat germ - symbolizing affluence
• senjed - the dried fruit of the oleaster tree - symbolizing love
• seer - garlic - symbolizing medicine
• seeb - apples - symbolizing beauty and health
• somaq - sumac berries - symbolizing (the color of) sunrise
• serkeh - vinegar - symbolizing age and patience

There are other optional items such as coins (sekkeh) representing wealth, candles representing enlightenment and happiness and mirror representing cleanness and honesty. Oh and then there is the gold fish which represents life within life and is the sign of Pisces which the sun is leaving.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I had my best Noruz in a long time, a real noruz. It had been a long time since I gathered with my mum and uncles and aunts and cousins to celebrate Noruz. We didnt end up having the hafsin which kind of sucked but hey, it was the best celebration in recent history. Next year my aim is the whole family and a haftsin. :-D

Amazing photos

Check out these aerial photos of Iran's salt deserts and seas by the photographer George Steinmetz.
- the flamingos are gorgeous
- the wind tower is amazing, something out of a sci-fi movie
- you also see a picture of the old city of Bam, just before the earthquake of 2005(?) leveled it. It is such a sobering thought that something can stand the test of time for hundreds and thousands of years and then.... just gone overnight.
You guys know what other photo Steinmetz has taken right? the photo of the caravan of camels in the desert.

Interesting Bill Maher Video

I really like this panel discussion with Bill Maher:

Very enlightening!

CIA... Say what!!

I am loving the Iranian government!! Now Ahmadinejad (A) has named the CIA and the US Army as a terrorist organizations. Read the following for a nice roundup of when, why, where.
The Digg comments were also rather interesting and list more of possible `terrorist'
activities perpetrated by the US, including the overthrow of the democratically elected governments in Chile, Brazil and Guatemala and installing military rule or senor Pinochet.

A lot of what A does and says is just stupid but then he does somethings that are sooo.. smart!! It shows the hypocricy of the age we live in. i mean even in the Columbia uni interview except for two questions, he answered well.

On another front, did everyone watch the annihilation of Paris Hilton at the hands of David Letterman? I felt sorry for her. She didn't know what to do. I wonder if she will ever come back on his show!

Gods and Demoagogues

I learnt a nice word yesterday which applied to Ahmadinejad very well: Demagogue.
"a person, esp. an orator or political leader, who gains power and popularity by arousing the emotions, passions, and prejudices of the people."

The word captures him and his approach to politics so well! i can't believe i didn't know it before hand.

Speaking of the man, i have been so disappointed by the American reaction to the iranian president Ahmadinejad's visit and lecture in Columbia university. He was introduced with so much vitriol and condemnation and insult that i was insulted as an iranian.
"Columbia President Lee Bollinger described Mr Ahmadinejad as a "cruel dictator" who denied the Holocaust.
In response, Mr Ahmadinejad called the remarks "an insult", adding that more research was needed on the Holocaust."
and later:
"He received a hostile welcome from Mr Bollinger, who described the Iranian leader as "a petty and cruel dictator".
"You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated," Mr Bollinger told Mr Ahmadinejad, referring to his denial of the Holocaust."
Esp for iranian and the middle eastern culture, politeness to a guest is paramount and so the president of columbia uni basically played right into Ahmadinejad's hands by portraying Americans as.. well not good and nice people.
The commentators also are all so rude.. seriously if they are only objective in their questionings and introduction, they would have managed to put the focus on A's words rather than their own. By printing out "The Evil has landed", The NY Daily newspaper does exactly what they accuse iran of doing. and yet they still adopt the holier than thou attitude.

Misc.

I read a weird article about this new type of by called "Modesty Buses" in Israel. Men and women are segregated with men sitting at the front and women sitting at the back. The sad thing is that this is what is actually happening right now in Iran. Men claim it is actually for the women's sake but come on - the moment you enforce these rules and remove freedom of choice you discard the option of claiming something is for the good of a group.
Like the hejab in Iran - women should cover themselves up... why? if you believe it, you should do it and if you don't...? I read the following quote in an article from Playboy the other day: In Iran, before the revolution, people used to pray in private and party in public. Now it is the other way around.
Somehow I think the more you try to enforce something, the more it backfires in the long run.
Btw the Playboy article is here and i haven't finished reading it but it seems interesting. You can download the pdf.
[Note: Unfortunately, there are no dirty pictures on this site! :-) ]

I am going to finish up with the following picture which I thought was really funny!! Essentially, be nice to the US!

What in the world?!!

What in the world is Iran's government thinking by this new (well, 8 days old) action? I am talking about their arrest of the English soldiers in the disputed waters, then publishing the apology letters and videos. What is going on??? What do they think they can gain by this?
OK so somethings I learned are:
* According to a treaty between Iran and Iraq in 1975 the Britons were in Iran's water - however after the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war, Saddam Hossein invalidated the treaty. After that, the waters have been disputed.
* Supposedly this is Iran's way of showing they have power. This is a negotiation tool for bargaining the Iranian diplomats which are captured and imprisoned in Iraq.
But I don't get it. Regardless of where the Britons were, what is the point? Their actions mirror the way the Iraqi kidnappings were conducted - the televised apologies and confessions. Do they think they can gain sympathy and empathy for their plight using these tactics? Then again, except for this, would the other countries listen to Iran?
I don't know. I do know the situation in Iran is becoming worst and worst. Something has to happen.
****************
ok, this is a couple of hours after I wrote the above post - and I am a bit more calmed down. It is amazing how the media can influence the thoughts and feelings of people. When they are continually looking at an issue unilaterally, it seriously constrains your vision. As you can tell, I had been listening to the radio this morning!! :-P and this was even NPR and not some right winged propaganda crap.

I found the following article from The Independent to be very interesting. It is kind of cool because it starts with the first charter of human rights by Cyrus. So Alvaro and Juan you both should read this article - and to the end, not just the first part. It is a much more balanced view of things and though it does not by any means excuse the actions of Iran, it does bring more of a global view of the context to this act. Very interesting.