How to have a very happy New Year: 1394 / 2015

We’re spoilt for choice! At the V&A, there are going to be traditional songs, storytelling, sound art and poetry, along with dance performances. Most exciting of all: “Help make a giant pop-up paper carpet for a Persian picnic, create designs for tiles and find out all about the animals, plants and objects that represent spring.” It’s …

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Have you jumped over fire today?

It’s Red Wednesday – Chaharshanbeh Suri – the last Tuesday night / Wednesday morning before the Persian New Year: always time for firecrackers and bonfires. The idea is to keep bonfires lit at sunset burning until the early hours of the morning. Read here about the various regime pronouncements against jumping – the number of …

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Purim in Iran – and Dura Europa

Today is Purim – the holiday ostensibly commemorating the salvation of Persian Jews, following the intercession of the Queen of Persia, Esther, and her guardian, Mordechai. It’s in the news right now because of Netanyahu’s inflammatory Congress speech drawing parallels between one version of Purim; and current Iranian government policy and the purported threat to …

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Cheeky Safavids

Janet Rady’s artist of this month is Hojat Amani. You can read the Art Radar interview with Amani here. It describes Amani’s newest “Still Life” series and how the artist “deftly blends contemporary Western pop culture with the Persian script and classical motifs”. Best of all, there’s a “proof that angels do exist”. But images …

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Nothing sculpture – and lion carpets

Parviz Tanovoli is the father of modern Iranian sculpture – and there’s currently a groundbreaking retrospective in the Davis Museum including many of his Heeches (Heech means ‘nothing’ in Persian). Hear more in /see some images from the show here. As Tanavoli says: ““Heech has multiple layers of meaning – in Persian Sufism it has …

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Fashion for Ayatollahs

Reza Haeri’s fascinating and very funny film Final Fitting is about a tailor who makes garments for the top religious men in Iran. There are very few films about fashion for Muslim men, but this really gets behind the scenes – showing Ayatollahs being measured and fitted, interspersed with on- and off-duty images of the …

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Maps of Persia

The Brunei Galley is currently showing some of Dr Cyrus Alai’s unique map collection. It’s a graphical journey through the historical representations and culture of Persia. At the opening of the FREE exhibition, Cyrus’ outstanding contribution to scholarship about Iran was praised. His two stunning books General Maps of Persia and Special Maps of Persia …

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