Iran’s Fire Festival
Posted: 12 March 2012 Filed under: Memories & Events, Uncategorized | Tags: Chaharshanbeh_suri, Iran, Iran_Fire_festivals, people_activism Leave a comment
If you are a non-Iranian and have been following my blog so far, it would probably mean that you already know Iran and Iranians well enough to have heard of chahrshanbeh suri, the Iranian Fire Festival – the one which is held on the last Tuesday night before the Persian New Year. The New Year starts March 21st, which makes chahrshanbeh suri tomorrow night. If you don’t know about it, look it up here. This is a pre-Islamic and much loved tradition, with lots of special events and OF COURSE special foods, such as sour soup, aash-e reshteh and mixed nuts which go with it!
Revelers in Iran celebrate chahrshanbeh suri by jumping over bonfires in the streets while the Islamic state fumes with vigorous loathing of the tradition, but fights a losing battle against it. We outside Iran, however, rarely manage the bonfire part of the night due to our cities’ fire regulations, but some of us at least observe the aash-e reshteh part.” [excerpts from my upcoming book]
Marching with Women of Diverse Origins in Montreal
Posted: 8 March 2012 Filed under: Montreal related, Uncategorized | Tags: International_Women_Day, Iranian_Women_Association, Montreal, Women_Diverse_origins 1 CommentFor the past 11 years, each year on March 8th, the Montreal-based Women of Diverse Origins has been celebrating the International Women’s Day by calling upon women of various ethnic backgrounds, indigenous communities, Trans-Women and all other “minority” women groups. The common goal is to “convey solidarity for feminist struggles of liberation across the world and to celebrate our resistance!”
Tonight about 500 women and men, some with baby carriers marched the streets of downtown Montreal for over an hour, while shouting the slogans, singing with the music, and carrying placards. Unlike last year, which many different groups of Iranian expatriates had attended the march, tonight the only group present with placards and leaflets was the Iranian Women Association of Montreal. Their demands: Free political prisoners, Abolish discriminatory laws against women, No to death penalty NO to war with Iran. See the two short videos I uploaded on Youtube. Quality is not great, but will give you some ideas of the mood.
Happy International Women’s Day!
http://youtu.be/SWzqDg6EkqY http://youtu.be/cwbygD5UqII
Pom. demanding pat
Posted: 24 February 2012 Filed under: Memories & Events, Uncategorized | Tags: pet, pom_pat, whiskey, Youtube_link Leave a comment
Here is my dog, whiskey, in Youtube demanding my hand for licking and petting! 🙂
He
Posted: 21 February 2012 Filed under: Memories & Events, Uncategorized 5 Comments
Sure life goes on, but with fewer petals to radiate love, and this is the whole point!
Red Roses, Black Market
Posted: 15 February 2012 Filed under: Memories & Events, SOCIAL-POLITICAL, Uncategorized | Tags: Iran, politics, translation, Valentine_Day 2 Comments
Red Roses, Black Market: Five places that aren’t feeling the love this Valentine’s Day. Foreign Policy. By Alessandra N. Ram. February13, 2012.
Good article except the title could have been more accurately chosen to read : “Five places that are forbidden to feel love this valentine’s day!” They are: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, Uzbekistan , Belgorod (Russia). [Photo: “An Iranian woman looks at the window display of a gift shop in Tehran on Valentine’s Day February 14, 2008. ATTA KENARE/ AFP/ Getty Images]
Goes straight to the heart
Posted: 12 February 2012 Filed under: COZY CORNER, Montreal related, Uncategorized | Tags: Heart_Foundation, Valentine_Day 1 Comment
Here is our IGA (a supermarket) initiative over a 10 day period on the occasion of Valentine’s Day: Pay $2 extra with each purchase to get this sticker, sign and post it on the supermarket’s wall. The collected money goes to the Heart Foundation of Canada – to help advance research on heart disease, and perhaps save the heart of one person you love! The money “goes straight to the heart”, as they have called the imitative. This is what I call a meaningful valentine’s contribution 
Gary Moore, RIP
Posted: 6 February 2012 Filed under: COZY CORNER, Memories & Events, Uncategorized | Tags: Gary_Moore Leave a comment
In Memory of Gary Moore 
Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 1952 – 6 February 2011)
Hip Hop in Iran
Posted: 26 January 2012 Filed under: COZY CORNER, Memories & Events, Uncategorized | Tags: Bboy_spaghetti, Hip_hop, Iran, youth Leave a commenthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsyq9gTPcK8
Viewed more than 16,000 times in the past six days, this 45-minute documentary is made by the Norway based “Bboy Spaghetti”. It is an entertaining and inspiring account of Break and Hip Hop dance and culture in today’s Iran – A country where every aspect of personal and social life including access to the internet is curbed and controlled by the government; where bloggers – men and women alike – are being arrested and detained on a regular basis for voicing their opinions and where people continue to write, to produce underground music, to live. to dance and to Hip Hop! Watch for yourselves and enjoy the skill, spirit and innovations of this incredibly resistant generation, comprising 70% of population. (Girls are not present in this video but I have heard from friends in Iran that they do practice it in Girl’s Gyms. Their skill level? Not known really).
Pomegranate rediscovered
Posted: 25 January 2012 Filed under: COZY CORNER, Montreal related, Uncategorized | Tags: anaar, food_photography, pomegranate 1 CommentIn 2006, Marsha Mehran published her first culinary fiction called “Pomegranate Soup” – It is a charming, fairy tale like story of three Iranian sisters who settle in a remote village in Ireland; start their cozy restaurant and in no time conquer the heart of the initially-skeptical villagers through their unique Persian beauty, warm hospitality and most important of all the strain of mind-blowing and heavenly-smelling Persian foods, side dishes, soups and desserts.
The title of the book was cleverly selected to give an air of exoticism – which represented the essence of the book. That’s right, up until a few years ago not so many people in the western world were familiar with pomegranate as a fruit, let alone as a soup’s substance! Well, things have changed dramatically since then. …
Separation Wins!
Posted: 16 January 2012 Filed under: COZY CORNER, Memories & Events, Uncategorized | Tags: Golden_Globe. Asghar_Farhadi, Iranian_cinema, Separation 1 Comment“I want to say something about my people: They are truly peace-loving people” .. ♥
Asghar Farhadi after winning Golden Globe for the best foreign film last night.
“A Separation” made by the Iranian film maker Asghar Farhadi wins Best Foreign Language film at 2012 Golden Globe. Watch it here. This recognition comes after several other awards throughout the world including Best Screen Play NBC Los Angeles, and Berlin Festival
The Iranian social media today is filled with joy an pride related to the news, not only for the recognition of the Iranian cinema, and this particular movie but also for Farhadi’s above quoted statement. Some say “true, it is the separation which won the price – the separation of Iranian people of Iran from their oppressive regime.”
Merci Mr. Farhadi. Merci Iranian Cinema. Merci the peace-loving people of Iran!
My Caldron 