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Nowruz

Nowruz Award – Personality of the Year for Natural Heritage

akhani6Dr. Hossein Akhani

The personality of the year 2014, for the category of “Environmental and Natural Heritage”

Professor H. Akhani, a plant biologist, an ecologist and expert in the field of environment and biogeography, has been recognized as the personality of the year in the category of Environmental and Natural Heritage, due to his:

 – Tireless efforts for registering and introducing the Iranian flora and geobotany of Iranian plateau

–  Collecting and gathering thousands of herbarium specimens of the many countries including Iran and, especially those of Golestan National Park

–  Founding and curating the herbarium of the Natural History Museum of Iran

–  Publishing many scientific articles on Iranian flora and plant diversity, as well as two major books on Golestan National Park

–   Teaching at university and expanding the education of environmental experts

–  Giving cautionary notices to the authorities and environmental activists

 

 

CURRICULUM VITTAE

Dr. Hossein Akhani

 

Dr. Hossein Akhani is Professor and Head of Department of Plant Sciences at the School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran.

Professor Akhani’s research activities include: Flora and geobotany of Iran and other South West Asian countries, Ecology and biogeography of halophytes, Ecological distribution and phylogeny of plants and conservation and biodiversity. He has worked on flora and vegetation of Golestan National Park in North Eastern Iran and has collected 24,000 herbarium specimens from Iran, Germany, Italy, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Jordan, France, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA, Russia and Greece.

Professor Akhani received his B.Sc. in Plant Biology at the Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, M.Sc. studies in Plant Biology at the University of Tehran, and his doctorate degree in Botany from Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich, Germany by an award of German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). He has been the Founder and curator of herbarium of the Natural History Museum of Iran, has been contributed to the International Project of Flora Iranica (ed. K. H. Rechinger), and has been awarded Distiguished Research Project of the University of Tehran. Dr. Akhani has also been awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Research Scholarship to work in Botanical Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Germany, and has been a visiting research fellow at the Royal Botanical Gardens,  Kew in the United Kingdom.

Professor Akhani has had over 85 published scientific peered review articles and papers in 44 scientific journals and four book series, and two books on flora and plant biodiversity of Golestan National Park and has written other articles about environmental problems in various Iranian newspapers and websites. He has also been interviewed by Iranian national TV channels and radio stations.


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2014 Persian New Year Festival & Fire Jumping | Berkeley

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Jump over a bonfire (or watch others do it) in the ritual of “Chahr-Shanbeh Souri” as the Persian Center celebrates Nowruz, or Persian New Year to say goodbye to the darkness of winter and welcome the lightness of spring.

 

2014 Persian New Year Festival & Fire Jumping
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 | 6-10PM
Persian Center, 2029 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, CA
FREE

 

Inside the Persian Center, a traditional altar holds green grass, live goldfish, food and other items representative of spring called the “haftseen” or seven ‘s’s as each item on the table begins with the letter ‘s’.

 

Persian music, food, and craft vendors, cultural organizations, and children’s activities add to the nighttime experience. This is a free, family-friendly, non-alcoholic event held outdoors at night, rain or shine.

 

A Persian ritual passed down since ancient Zoroastrian times, the Persian New Year Festival, called Chahar-Shanbeh Souri, literally means ‘Eve of Wednesday” because the festival is always held on the last Tuesday of winter, just before the Vernal Equinox or first moment of spring.Chahar-Shanbe_Suri_1-550x350

Chahar Shanbeh Souri, The Iranian Fire Jumping Festival

4shanbe souri.3Last  Wednesday of the Iranian year (Nowruz) know as Chahar Shanbeh Souri, is celebrated in the evening of the last Tuesday of each year, Iranians celebrate a fire festival with its roots in the ancient customs and history of the country.

Jumping over a bonfire is the ritual of “Chahr-Shanbeh Souri” during the Persian celebration of  Nowruz, or the Persian New Year.  It signifies a time to say goodbye to the darkness of winter and welcome to the lightness of spring.

Bonfires are lit to “keep the sun alive” until early morning. The celebration usually starts in the evening, with people making bonfires in the streets and jumping over them singing “zardi-ye man az toh, sorkhi-ye toh az man”. The literal translation is, my yellow is yours, your red is mine. This is a purification rite. Loosely translated, this means you want the fire to take your pallor, sickness, and problems and in turn give you redness, warmth, and energy.

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Nowruz 1393, The Year of Celebrating Iranian Festivities

 

Pasargad Heritage Foundation has named the Iranian New Year 1393 as the Year of Iranian Festivities.

 

Dance-318932_520630801282933_1256381498_nThis is the ninth year that Pasargad Heritage Foundation (PHF) is suggesting naming the Iranian New Year which begins with Nowruz, the most important festivity of the nation.

This name designation has always been according to international conventions that are related to the preservation of cultural and natural heritage of the nation. The goal is to increase the awareness about the endangered heritage that are being eliminated from the list of cultural heritage either by negligence or by intentional discrimination policies based on religious, cultural and political considerations.

Upon such premise, and due to the fact that the relevant Iranian governmental organizations ignore Nowruz on one hand, and the baseless enmity of religious zealots on the other, PHF is naming 1393 as The Year of  Celebrating Iranian Festivities.

Most of the Iranian festivities include dance, songs, elements of water and fire (symbolizing purity and life) and, thus, according to the criteria put forward by the UNESCO, they are amongst the Intangible Cultural heritage of the nation and candidates for being registered in the world heritage list. Nonetheless, and apart from the fact that dancing of couples is forbidden in Iran and therefore major parts of Iranian festivities are barred from being observed, none of Persian festivities have been sent to UNESCO for consideration. Nowruz is an exception due to the fact that a number of countries have participated in the efforts for its registration.

Popular Iranian festivities are all none-religious and have their roots in nature and all people, regardless of their sex, religion, race, language and opinions and everyone can freely take part in them. Such happy and glorious gatherings not only contribute to the expansion of peace, friendship and union of Iranian people, they can also help the realization and return of the country to the forum of developed societies with actions based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Having endeavored to introduce Iranian festivities for nine long years, Pasargad Heritage Foundation wishes a Merry Nowruz and a Happy New Year for all Iranians on the arrival of such a great and beautiful occasion. In addition, we invite everyone to participate in observing and celebrating all Iranian festivities by whatever means at their disposal and contribute to the preservation of this humanistic occasion for generations to come.

 

With love and Nowruz greetings

Shokooh Mirzadegi

On behalf of PHF

Year 1392: Year of Action Against Discrimination

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The below press release has been published by the Pasargad Hertage Foundation which traditionally
chooses and announces a new name and dedication at the beginning of every Iranian New Year.
The Pasargad Foundation is the first international NGO which was established in 2006 and focuses on
preservation of Iranian Cultural Heritage
.

Year 1392

“The Year of Action against Discrimination in Cultural Heritage

 

Translation by Lilly Mozafari (WCHV)

At the end of every year, the Pasargad Heritage Foundation looks back, reflecting on the past events and then looks towards the New Year with hope and promise, traditionally choosing a name for the new year.

To stay true to this tradition, at this time of the dawn of the Iranian New Year, the Foundation has chosen a name for this coming New Year.

As always, this choice has been made in the spirit of stewardship and preservation of Iranian cultural and historical heritage; the choice was also made in the light of the current events placing this national and international heritage in danger.

The recent events demonstrate that the historical and cultural treasures of Iran are subject to religious and political discrimination. Therefore, in order to attract the attention of all those who love culture and are interested in protecting historical and cultural heritage of Iran and the rest of the world, would like to stop these illegal practices, we named the year 1392 “The Year of Action against Discrimination in Cultural Heritage”.

The recent news broadcasted in Iranian media, which is largely controlled by the government, indicate that the Department of Cultural Heritage and Tourism of the Islamic Republic gives most of its attention and resources to preserving only one segment of historical heritage, while ignoring and neglecting the others that are in a dire need of restoration or in danger of complete destruction. This is happening despite the fact that the Department is responsible for preservation and protection of all historical and cultural heritage of the country.

For example, last year while a considerable amount of the Department’s funds was allocated to the restoration of numerous historical and semi-historical mosques and shrines all over the country, hundreds of national cultural and historical treasures, as well as those belonging to religions other than Islam, that are currently turning into ruins, have been ignored and left unattended. The Department attributes this systematic neglect of the national treasures to the lack of funds. On the other hand, the Department along with the Department of Records, continuously pressures the business communities in various cities to contribute funds to the Islamic sites, and by destroying national historic sites opens up more room for the newly constructed religious sites.

It is important to note that the laws related to preservation of natural, historical and cultural heritage presented in the United Nations and UNESCO conventions that are accepted by most nations including Iran, emphasize this point: “All historical and ancient structures, all historical artifacts of architecture, sculptures, paintings and scripts and all work that has unique historical, artistic and scientific value, whether national or international, must be preserved and protected by all consenting governments. Nowhere in these conventions has it been stated that certain treasures should be considered more important that others due to religious, political or any other arbitrary reason.

The international laws aside, it is unfortunate that such discriminating behavior toward cultural heritage is happening in the land of the people who since thousands of years ago not only have been respectful of various cultures and religions, but also helped in their preservation, as is evidenced by such historical documents as Cyrus Cylinder.

The Pasargad Heritage Foundation, at this time of the dawn of the greatest and most significant celebration event of Iranian people, while extending the New Year greetings to all, respectfully asks of all those who love and support culture and arts to spread the word and inform as many people as possible of the need to “preserve, without discrimination” all cultural and historical treasures. The Foundation also asks that when discrimination in preservation of cultural heritage is witnessed or observed that it be reported directly to the appropriate international organizations.

The Pasargad Heritage Foundation has been reporting continuously to the United Nations, UNESCO and other similar organization of all political or religious motivated discrimination in preserving cultural heritage.

 

With kind regards,

ShokoohMirzadegi

On behalf of the Pasargad Heritage Foundation