Tirgan Traditions

image: 

My parents have successfully passed on to me, their obsession with Iranian celebrations and observing them down to a T. And mind you I’m totally grateful to them for that. My husband will be more than happy to testify, in any court of law where he can plead his case, as to how I painfully (for him) fuss over the absolute requirement to jump a real fire on “Chaharshanbeh Suri”, preparing for and setting the “Haft-Seen” and throwing the "sabzeh" into flowing water ceremoniously on"Sizdah Bedar"!Looking deep into myself, I strongly believe that this passion has indirectly equipped me with a strong sense of national pride and identity which has carried me through the mental hardships of immigration and other challenges Iranians face today. Even so, although I’ve always known the story of “Arash the Archer”, mostly through Siavash Kasrai's beautiful poem , I hardly knew anything about the “Tirgan” festivities which have been celebrated in different corners of Iran for years.The launch of the first “Tirgan Festival” back in 2008, triggered me to do some research about this beautiful Iranian tradition. I will be happy to share a summary of the results of my digging in the upcoming posts. These pieces will be in Persian and accompanied by pictures.Stay tuned