Persian Culture - 3000 years
Here is the topic for next Thursday night. Sorry for the delay. I have been trying to find a topic of interest to our group, and as you said keep it "Doreh style". Except, that I am not known for being a speaker in Farsi and non Engineering topics.
Iran has one of the richest and most versed cultures of the world. From ancient Iran till now, we have influenced the cultures of many other countries. Many different races with variety of cultural differences have lived in Iran for the past 3000 years. Persians have many traditional celebrations every year - Nourooz, Mehrgan, Yalda, etc. The root of those go back to Mithraism, which was a nature religion started from Iran.
I have found a few interesting facts about Iran culture, which I will share with the group (15-20 minutes). I also have a video about E'el living in Iran (showing Ghashghaie living, for example) which we can watch together (30 minutes), and then we have a discussion about "how we can preserve this traditions now outside Iran".
If you have any suggestions, please do not hesitate to call or e-mail me.
Thanks.
Mehran
Happy friday to all:-) I like the sequence of doreh on thursdays, followed by a friday! Thanks to Mehran for presenting the topic of "Persian Culture", for showing the video of "Iranian Il neshinan" and for excellent hospitality. He really went out of his way to set up the club house for doreh. So, from all doreh folks "THANK YOU" :-)
Part of the discussion revolved around the community efforts that Mona Afari and Afshin Daghi are involved with. More specifically, they work on a link between Iranian refugees in Turkey and sponsors in the bay area. It's not news to anyone that there are Iranians who suffer in and out of the borders; the unique thing about these refugees is that they are being treated VERY poorly and that they have close to zero human rights. Why they left is not as important at this point as what they are going through. If my $60 is enough for an elementary child to go to school for one year, then one could conclude that there's light at the end of the tunnel! Well, it's not exactly the case. We often try to question things, causes, motives, etc.. when it comes to charity. But, we can always think of it in terms of humanaterian efforts. Just as an FYI, many of the doreh people have been helping the Bosnian refugees in the U.S.;not so much monetarily, but in terms of services and needs.
In light of this, there is a Persian classical concert on March 9th in Berkeley. The proceeds go directly to educational expenses for the elementary children of Iranian refugees in Turkey. Sheila posted the email and has kindly offered to sell tickets. If you would like to take a first step in helping these kids, buy a couple of tickets, come to the concert and have some fun at the same time. Or if you can't make it, buy the tickets and give'm to someone as Aidi!Please contact Sheila at : sheilam@ix.netcom.com for more info. maybe she can post the info again. thanks.
OK, that brings us to the next topic; The Forth Doreh Anniversary!!!! YEAH!!!! It's going to be on Sat March 16th. I appologize in advance if this overlaps with other events you may want to attend. :-( I know it's around Nourooz and so there's a gazillion things going on. But, I guarantee you'll have more fun in this party. Who knows, maybe we'll have a live band too!SHshshsh.... So, to help us celebrate this great event, we need some facilitators. First, we need a house or club house that we can stay in till 2:00am. Knowing the group for so many years, I don't expect an awfully wild crowd (pony tails are allowed :-) So, please volunteer your club/house if you can fit 40 people or so. If there's a charge for the place, we'll have a donation box and cover it. Next, tell me how else you can help (music? food? drinks? carpool? manpower? creativity? prizes? etc..)
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