Say Hello to 1386!

Hi buddies,
Yes! Spring has come and brought happiness, prosperity, joy and life with it. Flowers have blossomed and made the nature colorful. People renew their lives as the nature does. They try to change their life into a better one, to throw away their past faults, and to start a new day with hope; hope for new and better achievements.
I always see the cheer and happiness in almost all the faces near Nowrooz in Iran. Some days before the New Year begins, all people clean their houses, buy new things for the New Year, and prepare a special table called “Haft Sin” which is a traditional custom from ancient time. This table contains seven different things which start with S; all of them are a symbol of something in life like happiness, blessing, sweetness, etc.

The “Haft Sin” Table:
“Sabze”–grass-plot,
“Sir”–garlic,
“Somagh”–sumac,
“Serke”–vinegar,
“Sekke”–coin,
“Sa’at”–clock,
“Samanu”–kind of dish with juice of germinating wheat.
Ofcourse they put some other things like colorful eggs and little red fish on this table. They sit around it at the transition to the New Year and pray for themselves and their family and who they know, love, and care for.

Iranians have a holiday of 13 days in the beginning of “Farvardin” –the first month of the solar calendar. They go and visit their relatives, go on trips or anything that people do in their holiday! Then the relatives would repay the visit. This is the most common tradition in Nowrooz holiday and is called “paying and repaying visits”.

The last day of Nowrooz holiday is called “sizdah-be-dar” which is on the 13th of Farvardin. People go out and pass this day in the nature, eat lunch, knot the grasses, place the plate of grass –sabze- in the water, and are happy in order to banish the dark thought from them. They pass this day beside their family merrily.

Obviously, there are many traditions and connotations behind all these customs which are almost forgotten and Iranian do it as remained traditional ethnic mores and as they heard them from their parents and grandparents.
Today is the fourth day of holiday and I try to enjoy it! I hope you enjoy it, too and be happy all the time!
Happy Nowrooz! :)

The Story of a Comet

Once upon a time, in a quiet town, on an empty street, there lived a girl who was so innocent, so cute, but so alone. She always wanted to have some one to rely on, to love and to say whatever her heart wanted to say; some one who was aware of her and valued her feelings. But there was no one she could trust in and give her love to.
At nights, she went out side, sat in the garden, looked at the sky, counted the stars, and thought with herself if only she had had one of those stars; the most beautiful one for herself. She spoke to them and imagined their answers; she cheered herself up in this way.

One night, she saw a petite pink rose in the garden which had blossomed newly. She started to talk to that rose and thought she would give this rose to whom she loved the most. Suddenly she warmed up in her heart, and then felt something shiny passed above her in the sky. She looked up quickly to find out what that light was and saw something more sparkling than a star was going forward quickly with a tail which was scratching the dark sky. After a short time it went and nothing could be seen anymore.

Being shocked and unable to move, she went inside and didn’t tell anyone what she had seen. Although it was very outlandish and strange, she wished to see that again. So she went outside in the garden every night waiting for that sparkle to come. She knew that it would come again one of those nights, and then she can find out what it was and where it came from. But nothing passed; there was no enormous shining star with an immense attractive tail scratching the sky.
One or two years passed and she couldn’t see that light again. She almost was forgetting about that night, thinking it was an imagination. She even went outside to see the sky less than before. One night, she was so heavy-hearted, went outside in the garden and started to cry, wanted to shout and get a thing off her chest. She saw that pink rose which was not alone any more; there were lots of them in the garden but still she could find that one. All of a sudden, she felt that warmth again in her heart and remembered that light. So turned her head upward, looking at the sky. She saw that glittering incredible light is coming so quickly as if it hastens to do something.

“Wait! Please wait!” she shouted. It reduced its speed and stopped after some moments. It was so bright that she couldn’t look at it straight. “Who are you? Please tell me!”
“I am a comet; the comet of this sky.”
“What do you do in there, just to turn around the world? And lightening the dark sky?”
“Not just that! I am not an ordinary comet; I can live, love, forgive, and be glad or gloomy. I have feelings, but unfortunately there is no other star or comet which can understand me. You are the first one, especially the first human being who have seen me and spoken to me.”
“Much time ago, I saw you in the sky, but you passed me so quickly that I couldn’t even see you exactly. I waited a long time for you to come, but you didn’t. I am as lonely as you are and there is no one who feels my heart either. I am so delighted now as if I have known you for all my life.”

They spoke for hours, laughed, cried, and sang with each other. The Comet told her about its star and the mystery of its shining tail. She felt it was the most valuable thing she’d ever had. It was like an angel or a gift of God to her.
“I don’t want you to go. Stay here and shine for me every night,” she cried.
“I can’t; I come only one night after a long time and should go that night. This is my nature.”
“But I will be alone again, without you.”
“You won’t,” then he slashed a part of its tail and gave her. “My tail is the most important part of me; I give some part of it to you, so it would be always with you. We are together and near, although there is a far distant between us…”

She remembered that rose, picked it up and gave it to The Comet. “Take it with you. I’ve wanted to give it to whom I really love and that’s you. Whenever you look at that, you would know that I think of you and love you.”
The Comet placed that little pink rose in the most magnificent place of its star.
“You would be the ‘Star's Flower’; the only flower of mine and my star. I haven’t had any Flower on my star so far.”
“I haven’t had any Comet so far, besides I think no one has any like me!”
“I may see you again. Take care of you, my Flower,” the Comet told this and went on and on till it couldn’t be seen…

Now, she’s living in a quiet town, on an empty street. She is in her room thinking of her Precious Star who she hasn’t seen for two years and who she feels so close to her heart in spite of the far distance between them. She knows that her Comet would come, soon or late, and she could love it more and more. She would wait until the time they see each other again, but until that time she just can dream…

Dedicated to my Comet

By: Sonia

The Last Tuesday of the Year in Iran!

Hi every body,
Today is the last Tuesday of the year in Iran. As you know, Iranian calendar is based on the Solar Calendar that is known as the most reliable and inclusive calendar. First, it has been used by Zoroaster and then has become the formal and main calendar in Iran.

There were various traditional ceremonies in Iran that have been forgotten with passing of time, but some of them still remain even though their form has been changed. One of them which is on the last Tuesday evening of each year is called “chahar-shanbe suri”. “Chahar-shanbe” means “Wednesday” in Persian.
Much time ago, there were some customs that women used to do at this night. One of them was “faal-gooshi” or “hearing the fortune”. Women used to go to crossroads and listen to the conversation of people passed by them and they used to interpret those words. It was kind of fortune telling mostly for the marriage of young girls. Another funny custom was “qaashoq-zani”. “Qaashoq” means “spoon” in Persian and women used to go and knock on the door of neighborhood’s houses by spoon for reaching their goals and desires! They used to wear a mask in order to be unknown and the member of that house used to give them some raw dried nuts. The person who used to knock on the door shouldn’t speak at all!
Beside these customs, people used to do fireworks which still are done in Iran. People do fireworks and jump over the fire. I remember my childhood that when we wanted to jump over the fire, we told something like an aphorism. The meaning of that aphorism is: “Fire! Your burning red face is from me, thus I am joyful rather than you. And my yellow face is from you, thus you are pale rather than me”! Elder people said that it will bring joy and happiness to the person.
Unfortunately, there have been a lot of dangerous fireworks in recent years and lots of people got injured at this night. I think the beauty of this ancient ceremony has been forgotten and the dangerous noisy fireworks have been replaced. But still I love this night as a traditional rite in the dear antique history of Iran. There are “Nowrooz” holidays, the official holidays of the New Year in Iran, a week later on Wednesday at three o’clock in the early morning. I will write for you about “Nowrooz” later! Happy “chahar-shanbe suri”! :-)

One Day and Thousand Years

When it was two days before the end of the world, he found out that he hasn’t lived at all. His calendar had been filled with many days and just two days had remained. Being anxious, worry, and furious, he went to God in order to get more days from him.

He shouted but God remained silent.
He shouted louder and insulted angels and human-being but God remained silent.
He insulted God but still God didn’t say anything.
He became sad and started to cry. He cried and cried…

Then God broke his silence and said: “my dear son, you’ve lost another day just insulting me and saying nonsense words. Now, you have only one more day to live. At least live this day fully.”
“But what can I do with only a day?” he asked.
“The one who enjoys living only one day perfectly,” God replied, “indeed he lives a thousand years and the one who lose one day of his life, will also lose thousand years” and then poured the portion of one more day in his hands and continued: “now, my darling, go and live a perfect life in this day”.

He looked at the life in his hands astonishingly. He was frightened to walk and to lose his life, then he thought one moment that his fear is nonsense if he’s not going to have any more days. “So let’s live this day,” he said and ran…

He poured the life of that day on himself and ran more quickly. He tasted the life, smelled the life. He was in such an ecstasy that he could run until the end of the world.

He neither earned any money nor built any skyscraper that day. But he smelled flowers, slept on the grasses, looked at a lady-bug, prayed for those who loved him and those who didn’t. He forgave, forgot, laughed, loved, and over flew with joy that day. He passed and was finished at last…
He just lived that day, but angels wrote in the God’s calendar that “he, who had lived one thousand years, died today”!

by: Anonymous
Translated from Persian to English by Sonia

Hello Bloggers!

I am a new member in this site and this is the first time that I’m blogging. I hope you enjoy visiting my blog and that I can make good friends here.

This is my first entry so I want to introduce myself. I am Sonia Rooshenas, a 20-year-old Iranian girl. I live in Tehran and I am a sophomore in Alzahra University in Tehran. I study English Literature and I am very interested in learning different languages and have a little acquaintance with French and German languages. I am also very interested in computer programming but unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to learn it so far!

Of course I am attracted to blogging and I want to thank my dear professor, Dr. Marandi, who encouraged me and my classmates to have our web logs. I thank her for her efforts and for all the energy she gives.