No Shelf Required
Sara Mednick, an associate professor of cognitive sciences at the University of California, Irvine, is one of many sleep researchers who have demonstrated that naps improve our memories, make us more creative and less anxious, prevent mistakes and help us retain more of what we learn. … So, a quick nap at work “is a great idea,” according to Mednick. “It’s so much healthier than caffeine. It’s so much better for people,” she said.
Matthew P. Canepa has been installed as the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Presidential Chair in Art History & Archaeology of Ancient Iran within UCI’s Department of Art History and Ph.D. Program in Visual Studies and affiliated with the campus’s Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture. Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute, a private foundation that supports the active preservation, transmission and instruction of Persian language, history, culture and heritage, funded the $2 million chair in 2017, with additional support provided by the UC Presidential Match for Endowed Chairs program.
“We are very fortunate to have Matthew Canepa in the School of Humanities,” said Dean Tyrus Miller. “With his scholarship, we are one step closer to showcasing the full sweep of 7,000 years of Iranian and Persian history and culture, and UCI now has the largest group of tenured Persian studies faculty in the country.”
“I look forwarding to working with Dean Miller to build UCI into North America’s premier institution for doctoral education and postdoctoral research in ancient Iranian art and archaeology. We have several exciting initiatives planned and are eager to begin working with our partners in the community and the wider field to make them a reality,” Canepa said.
Touraj Daryaee, director of the Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture and the Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture, noted that Canepa’s position cements UCI as a destination for the study of ancient Iran. “With Matthew Canepa on faculty, we have the opportunity to train a new generation of scholars in the exciting field of Persian studies,” he said. “With this endowed chair, ancient art history and archaeology will be taught at UCI forever.”
Most recently, Canepa is the author of The Iranian Expanse: Transforming Royal Identity Through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE-642 CE (University of California Press, 2018). It is a large-scale study of the transformation of Iranian cosmologies, landscapes and architecture from the height of the Achaemenids to the coming of Islam
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Matthew P. Canepa (left) and Touraj Daryaee, director of UCI’s Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies & Culture and the Maseeh Chair in Persian Studies & Culture, answer questions at Canepa’s installation as the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Presidential Chair in Art History & Archaeology of Ancient Iran. Ebrahim Safi / School of Humanities
Matthew P. Canepa is named to endowed chair in art history and archaeology of ancient Iran
Please join us on Sunday, May 26, 2019, 2:00-5:00 pm in UC Irvine’s Humanities Gateway (HG) 1030 for this year’s Farhang Foundation Lectures in Iranian Studies titled “Feasting Iranian Style: A Symposium on Food”.
Schedule:
2:00-2:15 pm: Welcoming remarks by Tyrus Miller (Dean of UCI School of Humanities)
2:15-2:35 pm: “Meat in Ancient Iran: From the Gathas of Zarathushtra to the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi” by Touraj Daryaee (UC Irvine)
2:35-3:05 pm: “Scraps from the King’s Table: The Invention of the Qajar Cuisine” by Khodadad Rezakhani (Princeton)
3:05-3:25 pm: “Dining with the King: The Fine Art of Feasting at the Persian Courts” by Linda Komaroff (LACMA)
3:25-3:45 pm: Q&A Session
4:00-5:00 pm: Tasting Qajar Dishes with Parastoo Rezai (Maison de la Fork)
This event is presented by UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies in collaboration with Farhang Foundation.
This event is free and open to the public. No registration is required.
College & University (949) 824-5132
Excerpt from classical Persian poetry. The Rare Persian-Language Manuscript Collection includes beloved poems of the Persian poets Saadi Shirazi, Hafez and Jami, along with works of the poet Nizami Ganjavi.
In celebration of the Persian New Year, also known as Nowruz, the Library of Congress has digitized and made available online for the first time the Rare Persian-Language Manuscript Collection, which sheds light on scientific, religious, philosophical and literary topics that are highly valued in the Persian speaking lands.
This collection, including 150 manuscripts with some dating back to the 13th century, also reflects the diversity of religious and confessional traditions within the Persian culture.
From the 10th century to the present, Persian became the cultural language for a large region stretching from West Asia to Central and South Asia. Today, Persian is the native language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and some regions of Central and South Asia and the Caucasus.
The unique manuscripts feature beautifully illuminated anthologies of poetry by classic and lesser known poets, written in fine calligraphic styles and illustrated. It includes the Shahnamah, an epic poem that recounts the history of pre-Islamic Persia. Also, it contains the most beloved poems of the Persian poets Saadi, Hafez, Rumi and Jami, along with works of the poet Nizami Ganjavi.
One of the historic materials addresses the life of Shah Jahan (1592–1666), a ruler of India from the Mughal dynasty, during whose reign the Taj Mahal and other architectural wonders were built. Other items highlight a gold leaf map that clearly demonstrates how the world was viewed in the medieval Islamic period and Quran manuscripts with Persian explanations and elaborate calligraphy.
The collection was digitally preserved by the Library of Congress at loc.gov/collections/persian-language-rare-materials/about-this-collection/.
“These rare Persian-language manuscripts clearly reflect the diversity and cosmopolitan nature of the collection,” said Hirad Dinavari, reference specialist for the collection at the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division. “Since many of the items originate in India, Central Asia, the Caucasus and regions under Ottoman rule, in addition to the native Persian speaking lands of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.”
In addition to the manuscripts, the Library will expand the Rare Persian-language Collection with lithographs, early imprint book and Islamic book bindings in the following months.
Most of these Persian manuscripts and lithographic books were procured for the Library in the 1930s by Kirkor Minassian (1874-1944), a renowned dealer in fine Islamic and Near Eastern arts. The Minassian acquisitions included treasures from the entire Middle East with rare books and manuscripts in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Armenian languages.
The Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division showcased over 40 of these rare Persian manuscripts and lithographic books for the first time, for the public to see, in the exhibition “A Thousand Years of the Persian Book” between March 27, 2014 and September 20, 2014.
The Rare Persian-Language Manuscript Collection reflects advancement toward a goal in the Library’s new user-centered strategic plan to expand access, making unique collections, experts and services available when, where and how users need them. Learn more about the Library’s five-year plan at loc.gov/strategic-plan/.
The African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) was created in 1978 as part of a general Library of Congress reorganization. AMED consists of three sections – African, Hebraic and Near East – that cover 78 countries and regions from southern Africa to the Maghreb and from the Middle East to Central Asia and the Caucasus.
The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, offering access to the creative record of the United States – and extensive materials from around the world – both on-site and online. It is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference services and other programs and plan a visit at loc.gov, access the official site for U.S. federal legislative information at congress.gov and register creative works of authorship at copyright.gov.
PR 19-036
2019-04-01
ISSN 0731-3527
The main items are:
1. Somagh (sumac) : symbolizes the color of sunrise
2. Serkeh (vinegar): symbolizes age and patience
3. Senjed (dried fruit from lotus tree): symbolizes love
4. Samanoo (sweet pudding): symbolizes affluence
5. Sabzeh (sprouts): symbolizes rebirth
6. Sib (apple): symbolizes health and beauty
7. Sir (garlic): symbolizes medicine
Additional items that begin with the letter “s” that are commonly seen on the Sofreh are:
Sekkeh (coin): symbolizes wealth and prosperity
Sonbol (hyacinth): a spring flower
Other items included are:
Mahi (fish): symbolizes life
Tokhmeh Morgh (egg): symbolizes fertility
Sham (candle): symbolizes enlightenment
Shirini (sweets): symbolizes spreading the sweetness
A book of poetry or prayer
The Persian New Year, Norouz coincides with the Spring Equinox. I love this aspect of our culture because when the new year begins, it really feels like a beginning as the transition from winter into spring is seen in natures and felt in the air. Norouz is very much so of a cultural celebration in Iran and has been celebrated for centuries. It is customary for families to gather around the Haft Seen at the moment of the Spring Equinox and celebrate the transition from winter into spring together. The elders present family members with Eidee, which is a small monetary present for Norouz.
So, what is the real story? And why is the haft sin associated with Spring and the celebration of renewal that is core to the symbolism of the Persian New Year (Nowruz)?
I continued to wonder about this, at least once a year, until I started going to a Iranian Mystic Poetry class (focused on the works of Rumi, Ferdowsi and Hafez) taught by a very learned teacher. As we learned about the philosophy and symbolism of these poets, Spring came around, and in a discussion about Nowruz, our teacher covered the mystic symbolism of the haft sin, in a way that finally made sense:
The haft sin is composed of “haft” (or seven) essential symbols, and “sin” which may have been shortened from “sini” (or trays), which held these essential symbols.
The symbols break down into three from the material world (or “donyaheh mahdoodiat”), three from the immaterial world (or “donayeh maanah”) — this is the world of meaning and ideas — and one symbol that sits between and ties these two worlds together.
Symbols of the Material world:
Symbols of the Immaterial world:
The symbol that ties the two together:
Taken as a group these symbols show a progression from the material to the spiritual, with stone (matter) at the lowest end, and candle (energy) at the highest, and the wine (human) in the middle connecting these two worlds together. So, this is the point of the haft sin, to remind us of our purpose as humans in this world; the idea that we are here to not only experience limitation and the material world but also to experience transcendence and higher consciousness in the spiritual or conceptual realm.
How does one do that? Well, that’s where the whole thing ties into the celebration of Nowruz, which is all about renewal and the start of Spring. The haft sin is a symbolic reminder of the constant renewal (or rebirth) that can happen when one transcends and balances the material (mind), with the immaterial (spirit), by letting life flow through oneself in a perpetual state of allowance, amazement and appreciation of each moment as it happens.
We are matter and spirit, always becoming, aware of both aspects of ourselves in the present where everything happens. I call this the wow of now, where joy or “zogh” (as we Persians call it), lives.
Interestingly, and probably why this came up in our poetry class in the first place, such symbolism is foundational to much of the classical Iranian poetry and philosophy.
Whether we’re talking about Rumi or Hafez and their numerous odes to the dance between the material and spiritual worlds, or Ferdowsi and his epic masterpiece the Shahnameh (Letter to a King), which begins with a symbolic king, Kiumars, (whose description is that of Light) and ends with actual rulers and people of his day (the real and tangible), or even the dance of the Sufi whirling dervishes who always have one hand to the ground and one hand to the sky, spinning in order to negate space and time by facing all directions at once — a near-perfect symbol of the striving towards unity of the material (or finite) and the spiritual / conceptual (or infinite) — Iranian culture always seems to revolve around and return to this symbolism.
So, what more fitting celebration, than the start of Spring, where the earth has turned about itself and is coming back to life, for us to remind ourselves of the continuous renewal that happens when we balance our material part (our mind/ego) with our spiritual part (our consciousness) and transcend the boundaries of space and time into that perpetual state of renewal that is the moment, or the now.
At the end of the day, this is what being alive is about, and that is why I find the above explanation of the meaning of the essential symbols on the haft sin of the Persian New Year (Nowruz) so beautiful, clear and interesting.
—
Appendix / Additional Questions:
1) So what about the other symbols on the table, like a Koran or a book by Hafez, or Ferdowsi?
The story goes as follows… These seven sacred symbols have descended from pagan rituals that prevailed at or around the time of Zoroaster. There is a long-standing tradition in many pagan cults to speak in a hidden or symbolic language that is not readily discernible to the untrained ear of the uninitiated. Also, Iran has a long history of embracing invaders and their culture and traditions without abandoning its own foundations, beliefs or roots.
The above facts together with the Arab invasion of Iran which brought with it Islam about a thousand years ago, meant that the first thing that the “pagan” Persians did in order to preserve their tradition was to add a Koran in the middle of the haft sin. This meant that their sacred table would be sacred to Muslims too, and so their tradition could live on. Then over the course of time as some segments of society became more secular, some people started replacing the “holy book” of the Koran with one that they felt better represented their sense of spirituality, like the Divan of Hafez, or the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi.
2) What about two missing symbols that you claim are essential: sang (stone) and sharab (wine)? How come I have never seen these on a Haft sin?
This is a point that again ties to the last question regarding “hidden language”… Your eyes are deceiving you, for they are both on every haft sin table you have seen. Sang (stone) has, in our increasingly materialistic society, became sekkeh (coins, usually made of gold, most precious of materials, but “stone” nonetheless). And, with the Islamic existential threat to this originally pagan tradition, sharab (wine), which is not allowed by Islam, was replaced with serkeh (vinegar), so that it could be left on the spread without drawing too much fuss. So, these two essential symbols still exist on the haft sin; they’ve just been transformed to accommodate the prevailing socially acceptable norms of what is good, proper and acceptable.
3) And what of all the other “sin” symbols above? After all, they are all written about in the Encyclopedia Iranica and Wikipedia!
I cannot say for sure how they got onto the table. Maybe it was as a distraction for the untrained viewer, or maybe for some pedantic commercial reason — could they be an early form of product placement? I would imagine any merchant would be very excited to manage to get their wares passed off as “essential symbols” (come on it’s just one more “sin”) on the traditional haft-sin spread that hundreds of millions of people make each year. Regardless, I can say that the haphazard explanation of what all those “sins” symbolize, doesn’t leave me very excited. All are rather prosaic, mostly cliche and superstitious explanations, that sometimes even contradict themselves: like apple is for health, garlic is to ward off evil, or is it esfand that wards off evil, and garlic is medicine/health? Which would make apple for sweetness, but wasn’t that samanu? or sohan? Or both? Or neither? Blah…)
Anyway, in closing, I can say that whatever the reason for all those other items, they most certainly don’t distract me from the symbolic coherence of what the seven essential pagan symbols — stone (coins), grass, eggs, wine (vinegar), fish in water, mirror, and fire — on the haft sin represent. Nor, how these seven symbols have finally allowed me to appreciate this wonderful tradition of Spring in a way that makes complete sense to me and makes my heart jump for joy at the prospect of a life lived as a perpetual celebration of being in the moment or Nowruz!
#happy4shanbehsoori 🔥🔥🔥
‘About the Roots and Rituals of Chāhārshanbeh Sūri, the Iranian Festival of Fire!’
“The concept is indeed intriguing: The eve of the last Wednesday (so technically, Tuesday evening) before the turn of the year, called in Persian ‘Chaharshanbe Suri’, which literally means ‘Wednesday Festivity’. Some argue that ‘suri’ also means ‘red’, hence the variant translation ‘Red Wednesday’, with red possibly referring to ‘fire’.
Either way, ‘Chaharshanbe Suri’ is a (barely) surviving tradition from old times. The popular opinion is that the ritual has its roots in ancient Zoroastrian traditions, where fire is sacred and considered to be the visible presence of Ahura Mazda.
‘Fire’, therefore, is the defining element of Chaharshanbe Suri, and the practice mainly involves setting up bonfires in the streets and jumping over them. There is a nice song that goes along with it: ‘My sickly yellow paleness is yours; your fiery red color is mine.’ It is like a mantra you say as you make each jump, in a symbolic move to exchange all the dust and soot you have collected over the year with the liveliness and splendor of the burning fire.
The ‘festival of fire’ heralds the coming of spring, the Persian New Year, the new beginnings, and has for centuries served as an occasion to join family members, friends and everyone you care about in a time of festivity and fun.
Fire, not only in historic Persia, has long been held as sacred among Indians, Europeans, and many other cultures. According to ancient Iranian beliefs, Azar (Fire) was the son of Ahura Mazda. Ancient Persians believed in the purity and purifying power of fire. The belief was so strong that, to prove one’s innocence, people had to cross through the fire, as Siavash did in Ferdowsi’s epic poem, the Shahnameh. Chaharshanbe Suri (Chaharshanbe Soori) is the festival of fire. Chaharshanbeh means Wednesday and Suri has the meanings of red, party or festival.
People would also put food, sweets, flowers, and wine on the roof of their houses and pray for their dead to appease them. This is the origin of the fire festival in Persia before the arrival of Islam and was held in the last five days of the year. But where does Chaharshanbe Suri originate from?
Undoubtedly Chaharshanbeh Suri is one of the most popular ways to welcome Nowruz. A specially made mixtures of nuts and dried fruit, called ajil, is a commonly nibbled on throughout the evening. This tasty treat, believed to make one kinder and compassionate, is prepared using salted hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, prunes, apricots, and raisins. Most notably, during this night Iranians build numerous public bonfires in the streets and jump over them. A few days before the celebrations, communities in rural areas gather tinders and twigs, and in cities many purchase firewood and firecrackers. Celebrations start early in the evening and continue all night. As participants jump over the fires they chant “zardi-e man az to, sorkhi-e to az man”
“زردی من از تو، سرخی تو از من “
meaning “give me your red color and take back my sickly pallor”. This tune is sung to dispose of sickness and difficulties and to replace that with health, wealth, and happiness for the year to come.
It is believed that this ritual renders them immune for a whole year to maladies and misfortunes that make people pale and thin. In some places (e.g., Nāʾīn, Anārak, Ḵūr, Urmia) fires are kindled on the rooftops, a jug of water is poured on the fire, and burning brush is thrown into the street below; in other places the ritual takes place on hilltops (Honarī, pp. 25-27, Pūr-Karīm, p. 20).
Banging spoons (qāšoq-zanī). Another very popular custom on Čahāršanba-sūrī is to bang spoons against plates or bowls, both for entertainment and as a means of telling fortunes; it often has amatory overtones. After jumping over the fire, when the night has grown dark, women and sometimes men disguise themselves in čādors and, each with a spoon and a plate, go to the doors of their neighbors’ houses and bang the spoons against the plates. In response, the householder puts a small gift—a morsel of food, a fruit, some nuts, or a trinket—on each plate. Young men often take this opportunity to establish rapport with neighbor girls; indeed, the common purpose of spoon banging is to give a young man an excuse to go to the house of a girl in whom he is interested. If she has any feeling for him she usually puts one of her own trinkets or some sugared almonds or boiled sweets on his plate; otherwise, she drives him away by spraying water at him (Enjavī, I, p. 126).
Fortune telling (fāl). Another popular practice on Čahāršanba-sūrī is fortune telling from a jug (fāl-e kūza, fāl-e bolūnī), usually one with a wide mouth (bolūnī). Everyone present puts an ornament—a ring, bracelet, an earring—that he or she has been wearing into the jug. Then slips of paper inscribed with verses or sentences containing auguries—the number of slips must equal the number of people present—are put into the jug. A young child is assigned to reach into the jug and pull out one piece of paper and give it to the most learned or literate man in the party. Then the child pulls one of the ornaments from the jug. The man reads aloud the verse on the piece of paper, and the owner of the ornament learns from it what his or her fortune will be. In many places, including Isfahan and towns in central Iran, it is customary to take the fortunes from a copy of the dīvān of Ḥāfeẓ, rather than from pieces of paper. The reader chooses a verse at random as the fortune for the owner of the object taken from the pot. At Isfahan a small mirror and a box of collyrium, which supposedly bring good luck, are added to the ornaments in the jug (for similar customs connected with the first evening of winter, Šab-e Čella, see Enjavī, e.g., I, pp. 26, 126; II, p. 165).
Burning rue. Burning rue seeds (esfand) or frankincense (kondor) at parties on the eve of Čahāršanba-sūrī is a widespread practice in most regions of Persia, being considered a necessary precaution against the evil eye and malevolent spirits, devils, and genies (cf. above on fumigation to avoid the evil eye). While rue and a small amount of salt are thrown on the fire the people recite rhymes, which, though varying with the local dialects, usually go something like this: “Rue shrubs and rue seeds (esfandūne, i.e., esfand-dāna), rue shrubs with thirty-three seeds (dūne), rue shrubs know themselves; let them blast (be-tarkūne, i.e., be-tarakānad) the jealous eye” (or “the evil eye”).”
Wednesday, February 13 2:00-4:00 p.m. Humanities Commons Lobby
Department: Center for Persian Studies and Culture
Date and Time: February 13, 2019 | 2:00 PM-4:00 PM
Event Location: Humanities Gateway 1st floor Lobby
Persian tea culture dates back centuries to when it was first imported from China. Persian tea is mainly black tea and is served with breakfast, after lunch and dinner, and throughout the day. It is a significant drink when it comes to hosting guests and is served in many important social and cultural events from parties and weddings to funerals. There are various ways of drinking tea based on social occasion and class difference. Persian tea etiquette is a significant cultural phenomenon, which has its own unique ritual as well as art.
Presented by UCI Center for Asian Studies and UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture.
https://www.forbes.com/colleges/university-of-california-irvine/
Fasting can boost the body’s metabolism and help protect against age-related diseases, a study has found.
The circadian clock operates within the body and its organs as intrinsic time-keeping machinery to preserve homeostasis in response to the changing environment.
While food is known to influence clocks in peripheral tissues, it was unclear, until now, how the lack of food influences clock function and ultimately affects the body.
“We discovered fasting influences the circadian clock and fasting-driven cellular responses, which together work to achieve fasting-specific temporal gene regulation,” said Paolo Sassone-Corsi, a professor at the University of California, Irvine in the US.
“Skeletal muscle, for example, appears to be twice as responsive to fasting as the liver,” said Sassone-Corsi.
The research, published in the journal Cell Reports, was conducted using mice, which were subjected to 24-hour periods of fasting.
While fasting, researchers noted the mice exhibited a reduction in oxygen consumption (VO2), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), and energy expenditure, all of which were completely abolished by refeeding, which parallels results observed in humans.
“The reorganization of gene regulation by fasting could prime the genome to a more permissive state to anticipate upcoming food intake and thereby drive a new rhythmic cycle of gene expression,” he said.
“In other words, fasting is able to essentially reprogram a variety of cellular responses. Therefore, optimal fasting in a timed manner would be strategic to positively affect cellular functions and ultimately benefiting health and protecting against aging-associated diseases,” said Sassone-Corsi.
The study opens new avenues of investigation that could ultimately lead to the development of nutritional strategies to improve health in humans.
PTI | Washington January 17, 2019 10:56 IST
Congratulations to the first Iranian American women who got elected to office! You made us proud!!
Anna Kaplan for State Senate Sam Hamadani For District Court Judge Zahra Karinshak Anna For Florida
#iranianamerican #womenpower #women #iranians#persians #leaders #leadership
#electionresults2018#election #florida #NY #georgia #northcarolina 
‘Feathers of Fire’: Spectacular Shadow Play
A 10th-century Persian tale of star-crossed lovers is the basis for a stunning production. The innovative creators behind “Feathers of Fire” lift shadow theater to a new level. 140 puppets and digitally animated backgrounds are projected onto a cinema-size screen accompanied by original live music. Reporter Nic Cha Kim goes behind the scenes to see how this gorgeous production was created. For more information about “Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic,” visit Kingorama.com
https://www.kcet.org/shows/socal-connected/feathers-of-fire-spectacular-shadow-play?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlnmPwYeZBw