St. Valentine's Day

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

February is sometimes called as the Month of Love, but February 14th is always known as the Day of Love or the Valentine’s Day, which is considered as a Special Day to celebrate Love and Friendship around the world.

The New Lexicon Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary defines valentine as a sweetheart chosen on Valentine’s Day, the day when birds were believed to begin mating. According to Cambridge Dictionaries Online, valentine means, someone you love or would like to have a romantic relationship with, and you send a valentine card (or gift) to him or her. And the message on the card (or gift) said “Be my Valentine”. Britannica Encyclopedia refers to the Valentine’s Day as a day when lovers express their affection with greetings and gifts. On the basis of Wikipedia Online Dictionary, Valentine’s Day is the traditional day on which lovers in certain cultures let each other know about their love.

Reliable evidences indicate that whispering, worshiping, and celebrating love in Persian Culture trace back to pre-Zoroastrian era, long before Zoroaster’s time. It should be noted that to establish an exact date for Zoroaster’s time vary widely. Scholarly estimates are usually roughly near 1700 BC. Others, however, give earlier estimates, making him as the founder of the earliest religion based on revealed scripture, while still others place him in the 6th century BC, which would make him contemporary to the rise of the Achamenids.

The evidences that indicate Iranians were worshiping and celebrating love during pre-Zoroastrian era, in Zoroaster’s time, and onward may be classified as follows:

1. The chief god of the pre-Zoroastrian era was AHURA MAZDA, the creator of the universe and the one who maintained the cosmic and social order. MEHR or MITHRA in Avesta, and MITRAH in Pahlavi was the second most important deity. In Avesta, MEHR was the god or the protector of truth (in Persian: Dourosti) and friendship (in Persian: Doosti). In Modern Persian, MEHR means love (Eshgh), kindness (Mehrabaani), and sun (Khorsheed).

2. The AMESA SPENTAS or the AMESHA SPENTAS are the holy immortals of Zoroastrianism. They probably belonged to the pantheon of ancient Iranian gods, which existed before Zoroaster’s time. It is possible that, although Zoroaster denounced the old gods and goddesses, he assimilated the Amesa Sepantas into his teachings as aspects of AHURA MAZDA, and they were said to serve Ahura Mazda, the creator of the universe. Each of these Amesa Spentas ruled over a particular aspect of reality. To name a few of them, Spenta Mainyu ruled over Humanity, and SPENTA ARMAITI reigned over the Earth.

3. The SPENTA ARMAITI in Persian Mythology was the goddess of devotion and unconditional love. She was also the guardian of herdsmen and farmers, and she is possibly the counterpart of Roman Lupercus and Greek Pan. (Lupercus was the god of shepherds, and Pan was the god of the pastures managed for sheep and goats).

Spenta Armaiti in Persian Culture is also known as Espandarmaz and in Armenian Culture it is known as Spendarmat.

The SPENTA ARMAITI, the Persian goddess of devotion and unconditional love, was widely believed to be the spiritual mother of all human beings, and people were taught to say, 'My mother is Spendarmat, Archangel of the Earth, and my father is Ohrmazd, the Lord of Wisdom'.

According to one tradition, SPENTA ARMAITI was the mother of Kayumars, the King and the primordial being in Persian Mythology. As Kayumars lay dying, his body separated into seven metals. SPENTA ARMAITI gathered together the gold and grew a plant from it. From this plant came the first human couple. The name SPENTA ARMAITI is sometimes translated as 'Love' or 'Devotion'.

According to some documents the ancient Iranians used to celebrate the Day of Love at the end of Bahman (coinciding with February 18 or in the beginning of Esfand (coinciding with February 19), and the feast was known as Spendarmat or Spendarmaz.

In present-day Iran, Esfandgan Feast, which is devoted to women and mothers, is celebrated on Spandarmaz Day in Esfand, the last month of the Iranian calendar, to remember the superior status of mothers as well as their kindness and self-sacrifice.






In Iranian Culture, Valentine’s Day is finding its place in the hearts of many Iranians particularly during the recent years. Undoubtedly, Iranians are hungry for joy and pleasure. Reliable evidences indicate that the number of Iranians who are celebrating the Valentine’s Day is dramatically rising. Young people of Iran argue that celebrating love is a part of Persian Culture and Tradition, dating back thousands of years and it must be always tactfully celebrated. Classic Persian Poems composed by Hafez, Mowlana, Nezami-Ganjavi, and many others, are full of the poems on love. Here are some famous poems about love written by Hafez, Mowlana, and Nezami-Ganjavi respectively:



Whoever was intimate with his heart, his love defined
And he who was not, in his doubt was left behind.
Found nothing more joyful than the sound of words of love
In this turning Merry-Go-Round that You rewind: (Hafez).



Do not call the wise lover insane, or say
The soul who shares your garden is a stranger
Do not confine the encircling sea to a cup
He knows his name; so do not make stories up: (Mowlana).



Heaven has no other prayer niche but love.
Without love the world is worthless.
Become the slave to love, this is the course.
This is the path for all pious people: (Nezami-Ganjavi).

[Rasputin]

I met him when I was only 16 and with a dual enrollment in high school in the mornings and college at nights. I met him my first day at college, he saw me waiting for my classes to start, sitting at the library, came to talk to me, asked where I was from and where and at what time were my classes. I answered him, like obeying an order. That night he was waiting for me after my classes and asked me to give him a ride back to his apartment, only a few blocks from campus. That was the beginning of a story that shaped the rest of my life, my first encounter with Iranians, and as I see it today, a very bad day for me and how I choose my lot in this life.

That was the beginning of many rides to his apartment after classes. He was always waiting for me, religiously when I finished my classes, two times a week. I was fascinated by this tall, dark and handsome-beyond-belief man, who seemed to have a big interest in me, an interest I did not understand. I was only a child, and had no clue as to how men behave, or how they act and felt. I only knew that all I could think of during my entire week, was the time when I will finish my classes and take the most handsome man I had ever seen in my car, back to his apartment.

He did not talk too much, there was a problem with the language: we were both communicating in a third language, not native to either one of us, and he was struggling with it a lot more than I was. After all I was younger, was in high school and had been in the U.S. longer than him. It was not long until he invited me to come inside his apartment. From that point on “he became my boyfriend”, or what I thought was a boyfriend. He would hug me first, then go on to kissing, and then more... and I was totally fascinated by my effect on this handsome, intelligent man, how I could make him lose control and how his breathing became heavier and heavier, whenever he approached me.

By this time, all my friends were warning me, about this “strange foreigner” from a “strange and far away land”. My American friends were warning me of them having many wives and being just a bit less than savages. My Latin friends kept telling me that this man will never marry me, that he will eventually leave and marry somebody else, that he was probably already engaged to someone back in his homeland. but all I could think of was that he was the most handsome man I had ever seen, and somehow, I could have him all to myself to play with. If I have ever known love, he was it. I was totally head over heels and under his spell and I could not help myself but to just feel the luckiest person on the planet, just because he had chosen me.

I could care less where he was from, or that his language was very strange, or that his alphabet looked like something done by a child. His friends were “weird”, or that maybe he had a harem, back home. All I cared for was that I loved it when he came looking for me, and gripped of my hand and walked with me to the car, and then took me to his apartment, made me some of that great tea -- tea that I, a coffee lover by birth right, had come to love -- and sit for hours on the couch kissing and being hugged by this man. He also cooked for me, that wonderful Persian food I love and crave to this day, after the passiage of 30 years. He used to call me his “babyjoon” and I was just in what seemed to me as heaven. My world revolved around him. He was the center of my universe.

This was before the Iranian revolution, and he had told me, he had come to the USA, because there were not enough universities in Iran and for all the people that wanted to go to them. I knew his family or maybe the shah’s government was sending him money, and that eventually he was going to go back home, once he had a degree, and that my first love story would be written and lost. But I could not see so far ahead, all I could think of was the next time in his arms.

The time came, when I graduated from college, almost at the same time, (this was a two-year college for associate’s degree) and so did he. We now had to go to a university for the next two years to get our bachelors. He decided to go to the University of Florida at Gainesville, six hours away from Miami. For me, it was out of the question to move from Miami, and I was going to stay in FIU, a university, just a few blocks from my house. So I, who up to that point had never asked questions or made demands, demanded to know, if he loved me. He had never said so, although I told him that I adored him every day. I asked if he ever planned to marry me? What were his plans for our future? He never answered. I guess he never knew the answers himself, he just walked away from me, in the middle of very heavy rain, alone with my questions, and never looked back.

My first love story was never known to my parents, but my heart was so broken and I knew I could not make it by myself, I was so alone, so miserable, so sad, that I decided to say yes to a Cuban kid, with exactly the same pedigree as mine, who was the son of friends of my parents, and who had been asking me to marry him, for a long time.

At that time, we Cuban girls in Miami married very early, because otherwise we were constantly chaperoned, and were encouraged to get married, just as son as a “good man” will ask us. By the time, my Shirazi came back to Miami, during a break from school, he found out I had married, and I never saw him again until February 2000, well over 20 years after I had seen him last, I was already a widow, had a teenage child and he had gone back to Iran to live.

[Rasputin]

Web Help For The Perfect Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is less than two weeks away, and it can be either be a steamy, romantic affair or a total flop. The key is planning, and help for that perfect V-Day can in many cases be found online.

Adam Rich and Ben Lerer, co-founders of lifestyle newsletter Thrillist, stopped by The Saturday Early Show with a list of sites, and advice mainly geared for guys, to help make the right choices for that (hopefully) romantic rendezvous.

Finding A Date

First things first, you need a date. If you don't have a girlfriend or wife, it might be in your best interest to use an online dating service, as time is not on your side at this point. The best option for last-minute dating has got to be CrazyBlindDate.com, where you select your desired date type and a day and they pair you up with another random in your area. It's not ideal, but it's also not ideal if V-Day is two weeks away and you have no plans yet.

Flowers And Gifts

Since guys are generally lazy and forgetful (not to generalize), you should just act right now and get flowers and gifts. There are a few great services that take care of this stuff for you even if you don't remember day of, such as CallMeCasanova.com and SaveMyAss.com. Getting an account with SaveMyAss sets you up with automatic flower deliveries on all important holidays, the most important of which being V-Day. You can also get "just because I care" deliveries scheduled in advance, even if you don't. Casanova is just like SaveMyAss, except it goes even further by letting you order balloons, jewelry and other things you generally would completely overlook.

The Perfect Card Or Letter

Once you are done with the gifts, you have to send some nice cards, and it's not always easy to remember who you should send cards to. JackCards.com does that for you. You just put in all the information on the people in your life and then they will send you a card with a stamp. You just need to write a little word and put in the mail.

Now that all your presents are taken care of, it's time for a card. Obviously writing a heartfelt card can be painful and/or time consuming, so hire someone to write one for you. There are tons of online services that will compose loving notes, but we always use LetterLover.net, a true pro who does nothing but writing letters for other people. It's not expensive and she can knock something out really quickly. You tell her a few things about your girlfriend/wife and she'll work in some personal details so you can submit it as is.

Dinner

Next comes dinner. Unfortunately in most big cities, tons of restaurants book up a month in advance when reservations become available. Since dinner is the key to everything, you need a good reservation. Check out services like OpenTable in some cities to book reservations you might not be able to find elsewhere. OpenTable gives you free access to thousands of restaurants' reservation books, but it can't get you seats at places that are truly fully booked. That being said, they've got access at some of the best places in town, so it's worth feeling them out. If that fails, there's always services like Red Butler, an online concierge that can get you access anywhere, for a price. This should be a last ditch effort, but it can repair a broken night if need be.

Choosing The Right Wine

At dinner you want to be sure you've got the wine list under control. Use eWineMatch.com on your BlackBerry or iPhone by typing in your date's food choices. You'll get a text back with specifics about what kind of wines will go well with her food. Can't hurt to look like you know what you're talking about, rather than getting taken for a ride by the waiter.

[DokhtarIrooni]

adam valentines day mitoone hediye chi bede ?

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

Around the 14th of February some 1 billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged annually across globe, and yet very few to be sure in fact know the origins of this venerable day of love. Valentineís Dayís origins are to this day shrouded in mystery and yet to be conclusively settled amongst historians.

As legend has it, the Emperor Claudius II forbade young men from marrying because he felt that single men without baggage made better soldiers than those married with wives and children. Valentine chose to valiantly defy the Emperor's decree and clandestinely married those couples who sought out his help. This greatly angered the Emperor and in retaliation for such defiance Valentine was sentenced to death. The tale is yet another example of the ancient battle of love versus war!

While in prison some say that Valentine himself fell in love with a young girl, the jailer's daughter who often visited him during the time of his incarceration. It is this young girl so the story goes who was the first genuine recipient of a Valentine's Day missive.

Some contend that Valentine's Day was established to commemorate the martyrdom of Valentine in 270 A.D., who gave his life in the name of love. While others see it as a cynical attempt by the Catholic Church to Christianize the pagan Lupercalia festival, and thereby co-opt the remaining pagans of the Roman Empire.

Whatever the historical truth may be, the month of February seems to have since ancient times been one of love, eroticism and fertility. The ancient Persian holiday of Sepandarmazgan for example, was celebrated on the 29th of Bahman, which corresponds to the 19th of February in the Gregorian calendar, as a day of beatific love and praise of mother earth. It just goes to show that no matter the time or place, an opportunity to celebrate the wonders of love is one we all need and ought to be thankful for.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

[DokhtarIrooni]

Happy Valentines day!

[siamak]

[siamak]

[siamak]

[siamak]

[siamak]

Manijeh broke down crying, and told Rostam how at nights, she slept by the rock, slipping a hand under its cruel weight so the tips of her fingers could caress Bijan. How she fought his despair by painting in words the color of the sunset, and the racing of the moon through the ragged clouds. How, as she begged for food to keep him alive, she also collected sights and sounds, and sensations. A flower here, a song there, a quarrel in the marketplace, a comic face. So that at nights when Bijan threw his body against the pit in a cursing rage, calling out Gorgin’s name and vowing bitter revenge, Manijeh could calm him with the sweetness of the world.

She told Rostam how never, even during seizures of wrath, did Bijan blame her for what she had done. Rather he would imagine he was free, and dream up pretend lives with her. Every night they grew old together in a different way.

When Rostam heard all this, he praised the lovers’ dedication. Then, at night, Rostam and Manijeh rode out to the rock. As they neared their destination, Rostam felt a familiar apprehension. Twice he had tangled with Akvan the deev and had felt the spirit of Akvan’s master, the Evil Mind, Ahriman. The sensation of evil present told Rostam that Akvan’s rock was bracing for the battle.

When Rostam and Manijeh arrived, Bijan was still celebrating with a voice full of hope. Rostam reassured the young man and passed on the greetings of Geev, the emperor, and all the rest of the court. Then he told Bijan of his visit with Gorgin. On the mere mention of Gorgin’s name, Bijan suddenly went into a rage, pummeled the walls of the pit, roaring crude oaths of vengeance. Rostam said, “Bijan, Gorgin regrets what he has done. The burden of guilt on his conscience is heavier than this rock.”

Bijan laughed bitterly and said, “Don’t intervene for that traitor, Rostam. If only the power of my anger were in my arms, I could lift this rock by myself. Now free me as your king has commanded you.”

Then Rostam said, “I can’t Bijan. The evil in this rock dilutes my strength with doubt. I must take time to ponder.”

All day, the Supreme Champion sat meditating on his dilemma. His strength, a gift from Hormoz, was a sacred trust, and wouldn’t let itself be used to serve the Evil Mind . If he let Bijan out, Gorgin’s blood would be shed. But the Evil Mind would be served just as well if Bijan died in this tomb. When the board is all black and white, Hormoz is the grand master of the game. It’s when the squares merge into a murky gray that the Evil Mind cries, “checkmate.”

At night Rostam sat helplessly by the fire. Manijeh had torn off a piece of roast from the spit and was feeding Bijan. Her love defied the brutal impenetrability of the rock. What strength, Rostam thought, and recognized this as a sign from Hormoz.

He got up and spoke to Bijan, “If I am to free you, we will need to combine our strengths.”

Bijan said, “I still have much left in me. Tell me what I must do?”

“This will take a lot of courage.”

“I am ready for any challenge, Rostam. As long as it gets me out of here.”

“This will be a far greater challenge that you have faced in your young life,” Rostam said.

“Just tell me what I must do?’

“You must forgive Gorgin.”

There was silence.

Then Manijeh knelt down and through the crack Bijan saw the torment and sorrow in her sunburnt face. She was in pain and love would not let that stand.

“What I have suffered to this day,” Bijan said, “has guided me to this place in my heart. And now that I have arrived, I am thankful to Gorgin.”

Suddenly Rostam felt the power of Hormoz surge through his body. With a cry he raised his fists, each heavier that an anvil, and brought them crashing down upon the rock. The blow started a shock wave that rippled across the plain bouncing boulders in its path. Having stunned the rock thus, Rostam lifted its mighty mass way over his head, and tossed it up into the night sky, where it thundered and glowed all the way back to China.

Rostam then raised Bijan from the pit and the three sped to Iran on the swift back of Rostam’s horse. On their arrival Geev, with tears of joy running down his eyes, rocked his son in his embrace. Then Gorgin came forward and he and Bijan apologized to each other, putting the past behind them. During the banquet in their honor, Emperor KeiKhosro was chatting with the magnificent Manijeh. Seeing how the Evil Mind had tried to use her love to inflict sorrow on the world, he marveled at the way this pampered Princess had held off disaster until help arrived. Then the King of Kings commanded the crowd to silence, declared Manijeh to be his own daughter, and ordered Bijan to marry her.

Love and forgiveness brought a happy ending to the story of Bijan and Manijeh. And perhaps it was this story that led Sultan Mahmood to forgive Ferdowsi’s insolence, and send the old poet the gold along with an apology. But the Sultan’s repentance came too late for a happy ending. As the bags of gold entered through the Eastern gate on the backs of camels, Ferdowsi’s coffin was being carried out of the Western gate on its way to the cemetery.

We really needn’t feel bad, for Ferdowsi, though. If you visit his tomb in Khorasan you will see that he is buried on his own property, and not in a cemetery as the anecdote would have us believe This suggests that he came from a family of wealthy landowners and didn’t need the Sultan’s money to finish his book. In fact some people say Ferdowsi started the Shahnameh 19 years before Sultan Mahmood even came to power, and Ferdowsi’s famous diatribe against the Sultan is likely a forgery. The confrontation between Sultan Mahmood and Ferdowsi is a patriotic myth, which serves to encourage Iranians to define themselves more by their ancient culture, and less by Islam. Otherwise the poet and the sultan may never have even met.

And now that we have caught myth in the act of bringing together two strangers out of history, we wonder whether the real Bijan and Manijeh ever met. All we know for sure is that some courageous act of love and forgiveness thousands of years ago brought them together into the same story today, so that they could be remembered together, happily ever after.