Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The millennium of Shahnameh

Today, the 16 March 2010 (or 25 Esfand 1388 in Persian calendar), is the 1000th anniversary of completing the Shahnameh. 1000 years ago in such a day, the great task of composing Shahnameh (The book of Kings) ended up by Ferdowsi, after 30 years of working hard.
Shahnameh is one of the main pillars of the Persian language. In fact, its importance is more than this. After the invasion of Arabs (about 1400 years ago) the Iranian identity was in danger of frustration. Arabs destroyed the Egyptian identity and language. They also tried to destroy the Iranian’s identity with the military power for more than two hundred years, but at last they failed to do that, because the Iranian movements recaptured the country.
Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh consists of more than 60/000 verses, narrating the epical history of Iran. One of the stories in Shahnameh in which I’m interested, is the passing of Siavash through the fire. Siavash was a Persian prince who was accused to having a sexual intercourse with his stepmother, Sudabeh. Due to the treason of Sudabeh (with whom he refused to have sex and betray his father), he was obliged to pass through the fire to show his honesty. There was a belief that the fire would not damage the innocents.
Siavash passed through the fire successfully and everyone was convicted with innocence of Siavash. Nonetheless Siavash, despite of his innocence, self-exiled himself to Turan, where he was killed by Afrasiab. At the time of leaving Iran, at the border of Iran and Touran, he stopped the horse and looked at his beautiful land and told goodbye to Iran.
Since that time, and even nowadays Iranians remember their prince, Siavash, by passing through the fire in the last Wednesday of the persian year. This day is called “Charshanbeh Souri”. Siavash is the symbol of honesty, innocence, and peacefully in the Iranian culture. Siavash refused to fight with Turan, the Iran’s enemy. Instead of fighting, he proposed to play wicket. Today, is the 1000th anniversary of Shahnameh and “Charshanbeh Souri”.

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