Zoroastrians celebrating Sadeh Festivity

TERHAN, Jan. 30--Sadeh Festivity is a mid-winter celebration that begins with a big bonfire, which is lit by the head cleric of Zoroastrians who is clad in white.
The people then express joy over burning of the bonfire. Zoroastrian clerics read the holy book of Avesta while the youth jump over the fire and the older people proclaim their joy.
Sadeh Celebration, which is observed on January 30 each year, marks the end of winter and the onset of a new season with lots of rain bringing in prosperity for the people.
History of Sadeh dates back to ancient times and was celebrated by all Iranians until the Safavid reign in Iran.
However the festivity is currently celebrated only by the Zoroastrians.
Many researchers believe that 'Sadeh' is taken from a Persian word meaning hundred. However, since the renowned Iranian scientist Abu Reihan Biruni has mentioned 'Sadeh' in his book 'Asar Al-Baqieh', other contend that the celebration is attributed to the Sassanid king Ardeshir Babakan.
Biruni noted that the main reason for naming 'Sadeh' is that if the days and nights of a year are counted separately, the mean figure obtained at the end of the year will be 100.
An Iranian anthropologist, Mahmoud Rouhol-Amini, believes that although Zoroastrians celebrated Sadeh Festival, it has nothing to do with religion or religious affairs.
Rouhol-Amini asserted that Sadeh does not belong to a particular religion and that it should be celebrated like Norouz (on March 20 marking beginning of new Iranian year) and the autumn festivity Mehregan.
Another researcher, Mehrdad Bahar, also believes that 'Sadeh' was never an official religious ceremony for ancient Zoroastrians.

TEHRAN, Jan. 30--Fajr International Music Festival contributes to promoting national music and keeping the society exuberant, observed a leading composer and conductor of the National Orchestra, Farhad Fakhreddini.
Speaking in an interview with the press secretariat of the 20th Fajr International Music Festival, he said that establishing contact between the general public and artists is the main incentive for musicians to improve their performance and the international festival serves as a good venue for artists to communicate with the audience.
Asked about the programs of National Orchestra at the festival, Fakhreddini said that more pieces of songs will be performed this year compared to the preceding year and the atmosphere will be different from those of the earlier rounds of the event.
He added, "Young singer Salar Aqili, will perform program, Mehrdad Delnavazi has composed a song for the National Orchestra which was recently performed in Turkey. We may probably perform it in the festival."
The National Orchestra will perform pieces from Taleb Khanshahidi who has joined the orchestra recently. Fakhreddini also announced that two pieces of his latest music will also be performed at the event.
Asked about his expectations from the Fajr Music Festival, he said, "I wished there had been more halls available for the festival because Vahdat Hall is not enough and the space is being used both for rehearsal and performance."
Fajr International Music Festival is being held in five halls--Vahdat, Roudaki, Farhang, Foundation for the Arts Creation of Niavaran and Azadi Cultural and Arts Complex.

TEHRAN, Jan. 30--About 1,700 paintings by children and young adults have so far been received by the secretariat of Hans Christian Andersen Festival.
Secretary of the event's organizing committee, Masoud Nasseri told ISNA that the works submitted to the secretariat include 1,700 illustrations for books for children and young adults, as well as 150 notes by children in the form of letter, poem and story.
Commenting on adult written and illustrated works, he pointed out that only 10 to 15 such works were received by the secretariat.
He expressed optimism that more works will be forwarded to the festival's secretariat since the deadline for sending works has been extended till February 8.
Nasseri pointed out that the International Book Day that is held on April 2 coincides with the 200th birth anniversary of the renowned Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. He added that IBBY's representative office in Iran is preparing programs to commemorate Andersen for his services to mankind.

TEHRAN, Jan. 30--The first festival of Iran's Best Contemporary Carpets will be held in Tehran's Fine Arts Museum from January 31 to February 10 as part of the Ten-Day Dawn celebrations which marks the anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution, reported CHN.
Announcing this, the festival's executive secretary, Sadeq Boroujerdi said the most important objective of the event is to introduce ways of identifying quality Iranian carpet.
He noted that the top carpet artists will also be appreciated at the festival.
"Those attending the festival will be provided brochures and pamphlets about how to purchase high quality carpet. People's main concern when they want to purchase carpet is that they manage to purchase a good quality product. They can consult carpet experts who are present at the festival," Boroujerdi added.
He noted that foreign diplomatic missions and companies will also be attending the event.
"The main purpose for inviting foreigners to take part in the exhibition is to create a good export market for Iranian carpet," the official asserted.

TEHRAN, Jan. 30--Director of Belfast Queen's Festival has announced that her visit to Iran is aimed not only at observing the progress of Iranian theater but also to discuss with her Iranian counterparts the ways of developing artistic cooperation, reported ILNA.
Stella Hall said at a press conference that she began her career in the field of drama by working at a theater institute in Manchester. "My responsibility was to develop international relationship in the artistic field by taking part in international festivals either in Britain or in foreign countries. This time, we decided to attend Fajr International Theater Festival," she said.
Elaborating on her agenda, she said that she prefers to support the artists and that the Institute also gives preference to safeguarding cultural heritage and building modern drama using original techniques.
She said that the people of Manchester belong to different races and religions and her Institute has planned to help the artists of different religions take part in festivals being arranged by the Manchester-based Institute.
"In addition to working at the Institute in Manchester, I live in Northern Ireland. I try to encourage artists both in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic to attract the audience. Regardless of the political tension, there are common grounds in terms of history of the two countries and there are many themes which are welcomed by the audience from both sides."
The Belfast Queen's Festival was held in 2004.

Sol Music Group members

TEHRAN, Jan. 30--Sol Ensemble will bring to stage a selection of classical music at Farhang Hall, adjacent to Vahdat Hall, on Monday during the 20th Fajr Int'l Music Festival.
Head of Public Relations Office of Ensemble Sol, Homa Sadr Arhami told Iran Daily that several songs from major composers including Bahman Mahabadi, Henry Purcell, Mozart, Suleiman Aliaskarov and Beethoven will be performed by Bahman Mahabadi, Pourya Keshavarz and Nahid Abtahi.
Further information about the group and their performances is posted at the two websites: www.sol-music.org & www.solmehabadi.ir

TEHRAN, Jan. 30--Some 200 billion rials have been earmarked for importing 400,000 volumes of books for libraries in the current year, said the head of the Organization for Documents and National Library of Iran Kazem Mousavi Bojnourdi. According to ILNA, he told the ceremony to inaugurate the organization's new building that the budget for purchasing books for libraries throughout the country has increased 10-fold in the past seven years.
"In the Iranian year 1376 (March 1997-1998), the budget for the purpose was six billion rials, whereas in the current year, this figure has risen to 60 billion rials," he said.
He said that allocation of 200 billion rials for the purchase of books from abroad is a major event adding that the cabinet has decided to import some 400,000 books annually.
He predicted that some four million volumes of books will be imported in the next 10 years.