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Happy Nowruz – March 20, 2016

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Nowruz-posterNowruz is first day of Spring and the beginning of the Iranian year.  Nowruz is celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, on 21st March or the previous / following day depending on where it is celebrated.  Nowruz is celebrated and observed by Iranian people as well as several other countries across Asia including Afghanistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan and many more.   The new year starts at the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator and equalizes night and day or exactly when the Earth has completed one cycle around the Sun.

The celebration has its roots in Ancient Iran. Due to its antiquity, there exist various foundation myths for Nowruz in Iranian mythology.  The Shahnameh dates Nowruz as far back to the reign of Jamshid, who in Zoroastrian texts saved mankind from a killer winter that was destined to kill every living creature.  In the Shahnameh and Iranian mythology, Jamshid is credited with the foundation of Nowruz.  In the Shahnama,  Jamshid constructed a throne studded with gems. He had demons raise him above the earth into the heavens; there he sat on his throne like the sun shining in the sky. The world’s creatures gathered in wonder about him and scattered jewels around him, and called this day the New Day or No/Now-Ruz. This was the first day of the month of Farvardin (the first month of the Persian calendar).   On Nowruz, families gather together to observe the rituals and celebrate the beginning of the new year.

In addition, it is believed that originally the celebration was the holiest Zoroastrian festival, and Nowruz is believed to have been invented by Zoroaster himself, although there is no clear date of origin.  Since the Achaemenid era, the official year has begun with the New Day when the Sun leaves the zodiac of Pisces and enters the zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the Spring Equinox.

International Nowruz Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution A/RES/64/253 of 2010, at the initiative of several countries that share this holiday (Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

World Cultural Heritage Voices

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Ancient Nowruz artifacts from the Sassanian Dynasty – 224 CE to 651 CE.

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Nowruz during the Safavid Dynasty circa 1501 to 1722 and 1729 to 1736.

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Nowruz table ,and Persian New Year celebration in the White House

Let’s Celebrate – 2015

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yalda.7Happy Yalda, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa. 

The Yalda festival was a Mithraic celebration, which finds its origins among the earliest Iranians. But in 53 BCE, when Roman legions were unable to conquer Parthian Mithraists, they adopted Mithra the “Unconquered Sun” as their own military deity, and Yalda or “Yule” became an official celebration of the Roman Empire.

Many of the original pagan symbols survive in what has come to be known as Christmas such as: holly, ivy, the color red, the mistletoe, Yule logs, the giving of gifts, decorated evergreen trees, Santa Claus, etc..

Christmas Day (December 25th) is a Christian holiday which is celebrated around the world by decorating Christmas trees, attending church, traditional food, and exchanging gifts.

Kwanzaa is an African American holiday celebrated by millions of people in the United States.  It is a week long holiday, observed from December 26th to January 1st every year. 

Hanukkah (also known as Chanukah) is an eight-day festival of lights and a Jewish holiday.  It commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem during the second century BC.  It begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev and usually falls in November or December.  Hanukkah is celebrated for 8 days and nights with the lightening of the menorah, food, and gifts. 

 

70th Anniversary of Unesco

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unescoUN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon is welcomed to UNESCO headquarters by UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova (28 April 2015).

The celebration marked the establishment of UNESCO as a UN Organization, and served to highlight the core values and concepts forged by UNESCO since 1945, that continue to underpin its action today.

In his address to a packed auditorium, Ban Ki-moon paid tribute to the Organization as a “powerful force for peace”, a “champion of freedom of expression” and “a staunch defender of education, culture and sciences”.

“On this anniversary, let us return to UNESCO’s founding constitution,” the Secretary-General said. “Let us heed its wisdom that ‘culture and education for justice, liberty and peace are indispensable to human dignity and the sacred duty of all nations.”

Responding to Mr Ban and welcoming “the whole United Nations family”, Irina Bokova said the world was still very much in need of the inspiration and courage that led to UNESCO’s creation and which had guided the Organization over the past seven decades.

“Today, as the world did in 1945, we face a vast array of challenges and threats,” said the Director-General. “We need the same audacity that gave birth to this house 70 years ago. We need to think big again. In the face of violence and violent extremism, we must raise high again the flag of solidarity and build a more lasting peace through education, through the dialogue of cultures, through mutual understanding on the basis of respect and equal dignity. In the face of climate change, we must unleash the full power of human ingenuity, human creativity. This is our ultimate inexhaustible renewable energy. And this is UNESCO’s mandate.”

ICOMOS is 50

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ICOMOS-50thThe Second Congress of Architects and Specialists of Historic Buildings, held in Venice in 1964, adopted 13 resolutions, the first being the International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites, better known as the Venice Charter, and the second, put forward by UNESCO, provided for the creation of ICOMOS.

From 21 to 25 June 1965, the Constitutional and First General Assemblies of lCOMOS took place in Warsaw, Poland. Besides the delegates from 26 countries, representatives of three major organisations who had contributed to the creation of lCOMOS participated as observers: UNESCO, ICCROM, ICOM (International Council on Museums) and UIA (The International Union of Architects).

This year, 18th of April 2015 ICOMOS celebrates its 50th anniversary by honouring its founders and highlighting its achievements so far, but above all by reflecting on its future objectives through a series of international events and on the basis of a modernized set of Statutes and Ethical principles. 

18th of April, 2015

1394 (2015) The Year of Omar Khayyam

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khayam2Pasargad Heritage Foundation (PHF) was established a decade ago outside Iran with the aim of preserving Iranian cultural heritage. For the last nine years, on the advent of each Iranian New Year (which coincides with the beginning of spring), PHF designates a name for the coming new year that signifies certain aspects of its mission. The main purpose of this “name designation” is to emphasize the priceless value of the ancient cultural heritage of Iran that are exposed to constant destruction due to intentional and accidental negligence of the relevant authorities n Iran.

This year PHF has named the New Year of the Iranian calendar as the “Year of Omar Khayyam”. Khayyam has been an internationally known Iranian poet (known by his famous Rubaiyat or Quatrains), philosopher, mathematician and an astronomer. In addition to being known for his poetry or Rubaiyat, he also created one of the three major world solar calendars, based on the ancient Iranian chronometry which was also accepted as a major accurate calendar globally.

Unfortunately, due to his non-religious opinions and his scientific outlook, Omar Khayyam has not been popular with the religious authorities of his country. During the last seven years, Iranian authorities have forbidden teaching about his work, personality and as a result account of life story has been changed.

            Naming the New Iranian year, the “Year of Omar Khayyam” would hopefully bring more recognition and awareness of his contributions not only to Iranian Cultural Heritage a country he was from but also to the human civilization.

 

Let’s Celebrate Yalda, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza – 2014

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Happy Yalda, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa. 

The Yalda festival was a Mithraic celebration, which finds its origins among the earliest Iranians. But in 53 BCE, when Roman legions were unable to conquer Parthian Mithraists, they adopted Mithra the “Unconquered Sun” as their own military deity, and Yalda or “Yule” became an official celebration of the Roman Empire.

Many of the original pagan symbols survive in what has come to be known as Christmas such as: holly, ivy, the color red, the mistletoe, Yule logs, the giving of gifts, decorated evergreen trees, Santa Claus, etc..

Christmas Day (December 25th) is a Christian holiday which is celebrated around the world by decorating Christmas trees, attending church, traditional food, and exchanging gifts.

Kwanzaa is an African American holiday celebrated by millions of people in the United States.  It is a week long holiday, observed from December 26th to January 1st every year. 

Hanukkah (also known as Chanukah) is an eight-day festival of lights and a Jewish holiday.  It commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem during the second century BC.  It begins on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Kislev and usually falls in November or December.  Hanukkah is celebrated for 8 days and nights with the lightening of the menorah, food, and gifts. 

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Happy Cyrus the Great Day

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happy cyrus day 2This year, the twenty-ninth day of October 2014, coincides with the annual celebration of “Cyrus the Great Day” by Iranian people and many friends of culture across the globe. In 2005, the Pasargad Heritage Foundation – the first international NGO for preservation of the cultural heritage of Iran- that introduced the idea. At the time, Cyrus’ mausoleum in Iran- a monument registered on the UNESCO’s world heritage list – was in danger of being inundated and eventually destroyed. However, the hard work of this Foundation and timely intervention of UNESCO, human rights activists and organizations removed the danger and led to a world-wide recognition of Cyrus’ seminal contribution to the survival of our common human civilization. Such recognition has been further evidenced by the exhibition of Cyrus cylinder in a number of museums in major cities in United States of America. 

Happy cyrus day

October 29, the “Cyrus the Great Day” and the anniversary of the first declaration of human rights. Twenty six centuries ago, when savagery was the dominant factor in human societies, a civilized and compassionate declaration was written on clay and issued to the “four corners of the world”, addressing important issues relevant to human rights; the very same issues that today we face and could also inspire and mobilize those who believe in human dignity and rights. 

This document, known as “The Declaration of Cyrus the Great,” emphasized the removal of all racial discrimination and slavery, and bestowing to all people, freedom to choose their places of residence, and practice their own chosen faith and religion, therefore, attempting to create peace amongst all nations. This Declaration could actually be considered a present from the Iranian people to all humanity, expressed through the words of Cyrus, the founder of the first empire in the Iran. In 1971, the general assembly of the United Nations recognized this declaration as the first Declaration of Human Rights.

From savepasargad.com

UNESCO Sites: Summer Vacation Anyone?

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It’s summer and UNESCO has got vacation plans for you. Every year, more and more tourists are traveling around the globe visiting historical sites and many UNESCO World Heritage sites. In fact, with many countries like China adding more tourists to the total global tourism, it is not a big surprise that UNESCO decided to create a new program with a partner.

The small-ship cruise line Seabourn is in a new partnership with UNESCO and they have tourismcreated a new program that offers increased access to the organization’s diverse World Heritage sites such as Avignon, France, the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland and Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg.The new partnership, announced last month (June 2014) and beginning with itineraries departing on or after Aug. 1, is expected to raise $1 million over six years by charging passengers $5 to $10 extra for World Heritage tours. The donations will be earmarked for preservation work by UNESCO.

In exchange, the Seabourn Cruise line gains access to World Heritage experts for its on-board speaker roster. Speakers will include experts who have undertaken UNESCO World Heritage Center work, including those who established guidelines for inscription, and evaluated them as archaeologists, art and architecture historians and geologists.

On shore, Seabourn plans to offer special World Heritage Discovery Tours developed with UNESCO site managers. Although many of the tours are still under development, tours may include traditional musical performances, meetings with preservationists and more tours that include the experts. Seabourn already offers visits to roughly 150 UNESCO World Heritage sites annually on its sailings.