#iranian lifestyle

[dgiterart]

Persian Miku!?

In traditional Mazani clothing from persia!  

More info⬇️⬇️

Mazandaran province  is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari . Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range.Mazandaran is a major producer of farmed fish, and aquaculture provides an important economic addition to traditional dominance of agriculture. Another important contributor to the economy is the tourism industry, as people from all of Iran enjoy visiting the area.

Language: The population is overwhelmingly Mazandarani, with a minority of Gilaks, Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Georgians, Armenians, Circassians, Turkmen  and others, Mazandarani people have a background in Tabari ethnicity and speak Mazandarni.

Culture( literature) : In the Persian epic, Shahnameh, Mazandaran is mentioned in two different sections. The first mention is implicit, when Fereydun sets its capital in a city called Tamishe near Amol:

بیاراست گیتی بسان بهشت.................... به جای گیا سرو گلبن بکشت

از آمل گذر سوی تمیشه کرد .............. نشست اندر آن نامور بیشه کرد

And when Manuchehr is returning to Fereydun's capital, Tamisheh in Mazandaran (known as Tabarestan), after his victory over Salm and Tur.

Arash the Archer  is a heroic archer-figure of Iranian mythology. According to Iranian folklore, the boundary between Iran and Turan was set by an arrow launched by Arash, after he put his own life in the arrow's launch. The arrow was traveling for days before finally landing on the other side of the Oxus on the bark of a walnut tree hundreds of miles away from the original launch site atop a mountain

Music and dance:

Music in this region relates to the lifestyle of the inhabitants, and the melodies revolve around issues such as the forests, cultivation or farming activities and herding. The most famous dance of this area is the Shomali dance, not forgetting the stick dance that the men perform. Popular music in the province, known as the Taleb and Zohre, Amiri Khani and Katuli.

Cuisine :

The cuisine of the province is very rich in seafood due to its location by the Caspian Sea, and rice is present in virtually every meal. Mazandarani cuisine is diverse between regions; the cuisine of coastal regions is different from mountainous regions, as people in the Alborz usually use the indigenous herbs and coastal people use the dishes of fish and Caspian Mazandaran rice with vegetables.

[burst-of-iridescent]

South Asian and Hindu Influences in ATLA (Part 2)

disclaimer: i was raised culturally and religiously hindu, and though i've tried to do my research for this post and pair it with my own cultural knowledge, i'm not an expert on hinduism by any means. should i mess up, please let me know.

please also be aware that many of the concepts discussed in this post overlap heavily with religions such as buddhism and jainism, which might have different interpretations and representations. as i'm not from those religions or cultures, i don't want to speak on them, but if anyone with that knowledge wishes to add on, please feel free.

Part 1

In the previous post, I discussed some of the things ATLA got right in its depictions of desi and hindu cultures. unfortunately, they also got plenty of things wrong - often in ways that leaned towards racist caricatures - so let's break them down, starting with...

Guru Pathik

both the word "guru" and name "pathik" come from sanskrit. pathik means "traveler" or "he who knows the way" while guru is a term for a guide or mentor, similar to a teacher.

gurus were responsible for the very first education systems in ancient india, setting up institutions called gurukuls. students, referred to as disciples, would often spend years living with and learning from their gurus in these gurukuls, studying vedic and buddhist texts, philosophy, music and even martial arts.

however, their learning was not limited merely to academic study, as gurus were also responsible for guiding the spiritual evolution of their disciples. it was common for disciples to meditate, practice yoga, fast for days or weeks, and complete mundane household chores every day in order to instill them with self-discipline and help them achieve enlightenment and spiritual awareness. the relationship between a guru and his disciple was considered a sacred, holy bond, far exceeding that of a mere teacher and student.

aang's training with guru pathik mirrors some of these elements. similar to real gurus, pathik takes on the role of aang's spiritual mentor. he guides aang in unblocking his chakras and mastering the avatar state through meditation, fasting, and self-reflection - all of which are practices that would have likely been encouraged in disciples by their gurus.

pathik's design also takes inspiration from sadhus, holy men who renounced their worldly ties to follow a path of spiritual discipline. the guru's simple, nondescript clothing and hair are reflective of the ascetic lifestyle sadhus are expected to lead, giving up material belongings and desires in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment and, ultimately, liberation from the reincarnation cycle.

unfortunately, this is where the respectful references end because everything else about guru pathik was insensitive at best and stereotypical at worst.

it is extremely distasteful that the guru speaks with an overexaggerated indian accent, even though the iranian-indian actor who plays him has a naturally british accent. why not just hire an actual indian voice actor if the intention was to make pathik sound authentic? besides, i doubt authenticity was the sole intention, given that the purposeful distortion of indian accents was a common racist trope played for comedy in early 2000s children's media (see: phineas and ferb, diary of a wimpy kid, jessie... the list goes on).

furthermore, while pathik is presented a wise and respected figure within this episode, his next (and last) appearance in the show is entirely the opposite.

in the episode nightmares and daydreams, pathik appears in aang's nightmare with six hands, holding what appears to be a veena (a classical indian music instrument). this references the iconography of the hindu deity Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom and knowledge. the embodiment of divine enlightenment, learning, insight and truth, Saraswati is a member of the Tridevi (the female version of the Trimurti), one of the most respected and revered goddesses in the Hindu pantheon... and her likeness is used for a cheap laugh on a character who's already treated as a caricature.

that's bad enough on its own, but when you consider that guru pathik is the only explicitly south asian coded character in the entire show, it's downright insulting. for a show that took so many of its foundational concepts from south asia and hinduism and yet provided almost no desi representation in return, this is just rubbing salt in the wound.

Chakras

"chakra", meaning "circle" or "wheel of life" in sanskrit, refers to sources of energy found in the human body. chakra points are aligned along the spine, with energy flowing from the lowest to the highest point. the energy pooled at the lowest chakra is called kundalini, and the aim is to release this energy to the highest chakra in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment and consciousness.

the number of chakras varies in different religions, with buddhism referencing five chakras while hinduism has seven. atla draws from the latter influence, so let's take a look at the seven chakras:

Muladhara (the Root Chakra). located at the base of the spine, this chakra deals with our basest instincts and is linked to the element of earth.

Swadhisthana (the Sacral Chakra). located just below the navel, this chakra deals with emotional intensity and pleasure and is linked to the element of water.

Manipura (the Solar Plexus Chakra). located in the stomach, this chakra deals with willpower and self-acceptance and is linked to the element of fire.

Anahata (the Heart Chakra). located in the heart, this chakra deals with love, compassion and forgiveness and is linked to the element of air. in the show, this chakra is blocked by aang's grief over the loss of the air nomads, which is a nice elemental allusion.

Vishudda (the Throat Chakra). located at the base of the throat, this chakra deals with communication and honesty and is linked to the fifth classical element of space. the show calls this the Sound Chakra, though i'm unsure where they got that from.

Ajna (the Third Eye Chakra). located in the centre of the forehead, this chakra deals with spirituality and insight and is also linked to the element of space. the show calls it the Light Chakra, which is fairly close.

Sahasrara (the Crown Chakra). located at the very top of the head, this chakra deals with pure cosmic consciousness and is also linked to the element of space. it makes perfect sense that this would be the final chakra aang has to unblock in order to connect with the avatar spirit, since the crown chakra is meant to be the point of communion with one's deepest, truest self.

the show follows these associations and descriptions almost verbatim, and does a good job linking the individual chakras to their associated struggles in aang's arc.

Cosmic Energy

the idea of chakras is associated with the concept of shakti, which refers to the life-giving energy that flows throughout the universe and within every individual.

the idea of shakti is a fundamentally unifying one, stating that all living beings are connected to one another and the universe through the cosmic energy that flows through us all. this philosophy is referenced both in the swamp episode and in guru pathik telling aang that the greatest illusion in the world is that of separation - after all, how can there be any real separation when every life is sustained by the same force?

this is also why aang needing to let go of katara did not, as he mistakenly assumed, mean he had to stop loving her. rather, the point of shedding earthly attachment is to allow one to become more attuned to shakti, both within oneself and others. ironically, in letting go of katara and allowing himself to commune with the divine energy of the universe instead, aang would have been more connected to her - not less.

The Avatar State

according to hinduism, there are five classical elements known as pancha bhuta that form the foundations of all creation: air, water, earth, fire, and space/atmosphere.

obviously, atla borrows this concept in making a world entirely based on the four classical elements. but looking at how the avatar spirit is portrayed as a giant version of aang suspended in mid-air, far above the earth, it's possible that this could reference the fifth liminal element of space as well.

admittedly this might be a bit of a reach, but personally i find it a neat piece of worldbuilding that could further explain the power of the avatar. compared to anyone else who might be able to master only one element, mastering all five means having control of every building block of the world. this would allow the avatar to be far more attuned to the spiritual energy within the universe - and themselves - as a result, setting in motion the endless cycle of death and rebirth that would connect their soul even across lifetimes.

[tatert07s]

For AAPI heritage month, I would appreciate Asians and non-Asians to read about the region of Central Asia and the 6 countries inhabiting that area. Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Learn about the East Iranian, Turkic ethnic groups, and their cultures. The life of 5 of those countries under the Soviet Union, how American Imperialism, Russia, and the British has affected Afghanistan. This year, we need to be louder about Central Asia, and the experiences of Central Asian diasporas in Western countries. In the United States, we physically don’t even have an Asian racial category that is inclusive to our region. Yet, we share a lot of commonalities to the lifestyles on how other Asian ethnic groups are treated in the United States. Let’s celebrate Central Asia this year for AAPI month.

[mariacallous]

Iran’s outgoing intelligence minster, Esmail Khatib, must be eating his words. In late July, he boasted that “dismantling Mossad’s infiltration network” in Iran was the greatest achievement of his three-year tenure.

Six days later in the heart of Tehran, Israel assassinated Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was under the protection of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). What makes the assassination especially noteworthy is that the Iranian regime regards the IRGC’s own intelligence and counterintelligence capabilities as far more sophisticated than those of Khatib’s ministry. In fact, within the IRGC’s internal structures, the security-intelligence axis embedded within the all-powerful IRGC Intelligence Organization is the most powerful and influential force not only within the IRGC, but also more broadly in Iran—the crème de la crème of the regime’s security apparatus.

Let there be no mistake: The assassination of Haniyeh in an IRGC guesthouse in Tehran was a colossal intelligence failure. It has exposed major vulnerabilities within the IRGC’s intelligence apparatus, including likely foreign infiltration at the highest levels.

This is the biggest takeaway from the killing of Haniyeh—not his death, per se. Beyond the immediate question of Iran’s direct response to Israel, the regime’s paranoia at home will likely increase as it tries to root out foreign infiltration and tighten its grip on the security services as its supreme leader, the 85-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prepares for his succession, a crucial and potentially destabilizing event for the regime.

Of course, this is not the IRGC’s first intelligence failure. In April, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the IRGC Quds Force’s commander for the Levant—responsible for coordinating Hezbollah attacks—was killed in a targeted strike in Syria at a secretive Quds Force annex next to the Iranian Embassy. There was also the targeted killing in November 2020 of IRGC scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the father of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, who was also under IRGC protection.

The big difference this time, however, is that the intelligence failure took place while Haniyeh was in an IRGC compound in the heart of Tehran, where he had traveled from Qatar to attend the inauguration of new Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

High-value terrorist leaders have always considered Iran to be one of the very few safe havens for them to travel, reside, and operate. These include Imad Mughniyeh—Hezbollah’s chief of operations, assassinated in Syria in 2008—whose daughter wrote in her Farsi memoirs that her father only felt safe on Iranian territory. Al Qaeda leader Saif al-Adel currently resides in Iran. Even leaders of European organized crime syndicates such as the Ireland-based Kinahan transnational criminal group have reportedly found refuge there.

The IRGC’s habit of guaranteeing sanctuary to terrorist figures has enabled it to easily cultivate and co-opt some of the deadliest militant organizations in the world, whose members often enjoy lavish lifestyles while they use Iran for training and plotting terror attacks. According to intelligence reports described by the Wall Street Journal, some of the Hamas militants who breached the Israel-Gaza border and conducted the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre were trained by the IRGC in Iran.

Israel’s ability to kill Haniyeh in an IRGC-protected compound at a time when the IRGC Intelligence Organization would have been on high alert will alter the perceived dynamic of Iran as a safe haven. The assassination will make terrorist leaders think twice before seeking refuge there and likely complicate the relationship between the Iranian regime and its proxies.

This is a significant setback for the regime. Whereas the intelligence leaks that led to the assassinations of Zahedi or Quds Force Commander Qassem Suleimani in Iraq in 2020 could be blamed on foreign moles, the responsibility in this case lies squarely with the IRGC. The IRGC’s fear of losing face can be seen in the organization’s quick denials of Western media reports that explosives had been smuggled into the IRGC guesthouse where Haniyeh was staying. To deflect blame from the IRGC, officials instead blamed a projectile fired from nearby. These attempts to dodge responsibility, however, did not prevent Iranian authorities from arresting more than two dozen individuals linked to the guesthouse and overhauling security protocols.

This strike in the heart of Tehran will only increase the anxieties of an already-paranoid Khamenei and IRGC about Israeli infiltration at the highest levels of security in the IRGC Intelligence Organization.

Over the past few years, Khamenei has sought to mitigate foreign infiltration by purging the IRGC’s senior ranks following successive domestic intelligence failures. In 2009, for example, after the Green Movement threatened the stability of the regime following the disputed reelection of then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Khamenei restructured the IRGC’s Basij militia and intelligence apparatuses.

A significant ouster also took place in June 2022, when hard-line cleric Hossein Taeb—one of the regime’s most powerful figures—was removed as the head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization. Taeb’s replacement—Brig. Gen. Mohammad Kazemi, the former head of the IRGC Counterintelligence Organization, which is tasked with identifying moles in the regime—exposed the ayatollah’s paranoid state of mind in relation to foreign infiltration. Replacing a cleric with a seasoned intelligence commander was also intended to improve the operational efficacy of the IRGC’s operations abroad.

But if Kazemi was brought in to make up for the successive intelligence failures that had led to key regime figures and nuclear sites being targeted and IRGC attacks against Israelis being consistently foiled, Haniyeh’s death showed that it was to no avail.

The man who succeeded Kazemi as the IRGC Counterintelligence Organization commander, Majid Khademi, will also come under new scrutiny: His agency is tasked with rooting out spies within the IRGC, and it clearly failed. Also at issue is the future of the IRGC’s Ansar al-Mahdi Protection Unit, which guards high-level Iranian and visiting officials. This unit has suffered from turnover in recent years amid suspicion of infiltration by foreign intelligence organizations. For example, its commander Ali Nasiri was removed in 2019 amid suspicions about his loyalties. Nasiri reappeared in the Counterintelligence Organization and was reportedly arrested there later. His successor, Brig. Gen. Fathollah Jomeiri, has overseen a series of spectacular failures, including the assassinations of Fakhrizadeh and Haniyeh. In all likelihood, officers of the Ansar al-Mahdi Protection Unit were guarding both.

Now that these vulnerabilities have been exposed, the IRGC will be all the more determined to save face and make up for its failings. There are numerous short-, medium-, and long-term options for its leadership to respond.

In Tehran, Khamenei’s appetite for doubling down on purging the regime’s security-intelligence apparatus will increase following Haniyeh’s death. The foreign infiltration that enabled the assassination of such a well-protected, high-value target has taken place against the backdrop of preparations for the supreme leader’s succession. Over the past five years, Khamenei has put most his remaining energy into ensuring a smooth and orderly succession process. His passing will inevitably be a potentially destabilizing moment for the regime, and he will want to ensure that the IRGC has full control over the security situation prior to his demise.

The sudden death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was one of the two front-runners to succeed Khamenei, was a major setback for the ayatollah’s succession plans. At a time when the security-intelligence apparatus of the regime has clearly been compromised, guaranteeing the security of the other candidate—Khamenei’s power-hungry son, Mojtaba—will be at the front of the aging ayatollah’s mind. The complete unraveling of Khamenei’s succession plans—and a major danger to the survival of the regime—is now only one assassination away. After the Israeli operation in Tehran last week, another wave of internal purges is all but guaranteed.

The Iranian regime’s response to Israel could take several forms. While much of the global commentary is framing Iran’s response to Israel in terms of the usual tit for tat, Khamenei and the IRGC will be driven by different concerns. For the latter, the response will be driven by the intent to uproot foreign infiltration and inflict enough damage to the Israelis to stop them operating against the regime on Iranian soil.

Until now, the main discussion on how this would be achieved has been centered on the likelihood of a conventional military response, similar to the Iranian drone and missile barrage against Israel in April.

In tandem with this type of conventional attack, a global campaign of terror against Israelis and Jews should not be ruled out. After various IRGC plots to kill Israelis were foiled in recent years, Kazemi will be all the more motivated to make up for these failures. The IRGC may calculate that while it may be unable to meaningfully shift Israel’s calculus through conventional means—due to the Israeli military’s military superiority, especially in air defense—a campaign of terror against unarmed Israelis and Jewish people abroad could put enough pressure on the Israeli government to avoid striking inside Iran.

Another option is for the IRGC to significantly ramp up its nuclear escalation, which is already near breakout levels. Increasing enrichment to 90 percent, even if only by a symbolic amount, is something that the regime could consider as a way to show Israel that the Haniyeh assassination crossed a red line. Given the lack of any serious response to Iran’s nuclear activities for years, Iranian decision-makers may calculate that they would not face much backlash on the world stage.

However, Tehran’s main concern will be with its own intelligence and security failures. These could have significant long-term implications for the Iranian regime’s military and security services—with purges and paranoia lasting long after the promised riposte to Israel.

[richincolor]

Review: Twin Flames by Olivia Abtahi

Summary: On estranged twins Leila and Bianca's eighteenth birthday, Leila suddenly gains a djinn's superpowers, and the twins realize that their town can only survive the djinns' secret plans if they learn to work together as sisters. An action-packed YA fantasy!

Twins Bianca and Leila could not be more different from each other. Being both Argentinian and Iranian in a small town has always been hard, but with Leila shunning her heritage and Bianca embracing it, the two walk very different paths. They run in different circles of friends, and barely talk anymore. Leila's a homebody who loves to craft and plans on marrying her high school sweetheart. Bianca's more anti-establishment and plans to get out of Dodge as soon as humanly possible.

But on their eighteenth birthday, the neighbor's barn mysteriously burns down. When Leila encounters a monster arising from the fire, a djinn, suddenly she gains strange powers--and can no longer touch iron.

What do these djinn want with Leila--or other people in town, for that matter? Can the twins learn to rely on each other--and their cultures--to banish them? It'll take a sisterly reconciliation for the girls to find out and to save their hometown in this New Visions Award-winning fantasy adventure.

My Thoughts: Twin Flames begins with a simple birthday celebration, but the pace picks up almost immediately. The fires start and the djinn keep the twins scrambling and in a race for survival. This was a book that I read in one big gulp because I could not wait to see what happened next and which type of djinn would jump out onto the page.

It's a dual narration with the twins sharing their unique ways of experiencing the events. While Bianca leans goth, Leila seems to be heading down the trad wife path. Leila wishes that she had been born back in time a bit and finds comfort and safety in her sewing, crafting and styling herself like women of the past. That isn't really a perspective that I've seen often in young adult books, but there is a rising visibility of that lifestyle in social media so perhaps we'll be seeing more of this in YA.

The action was suspenseful so it's a page turner, yet the relationships and interactions between friends and family are also intense. The love between characters is evident, but the complications of being in relationship with one another can be seen and felt throughout the story. The djinn and all they bring are the smoke and fire, but the humans connecting with each other is the real heart of the book.

A lot of the connection, or lack thereof, comes as the twins are struggling with their identities. While working through challenges and trying to stay alive, it becomes clearer what is truly important to them even though they thought they already knew who they were and what they wanted in life.

As tightly as Bianca is holding to her culture and languages, Leila is pushing away those same things in an effort to blend in. It's fascinating to contemplate how siblings in the same situation can react in completely different ways and move through the world so uniquely.

And did I mention romance? It's not all about that, but there's some romance in the air if that is something that appeals.

Recommendation: Get it as soon as you can especially if you have an interest in fantasy involving djinn and intriguing sibling relationships.

Extras: Conversation at ALA with Olivia Abtahi and Isabel Quintero

Publisher: Tu Books Pages: 368 Review copy: ARC via publisher Availability: On shelves August 27

[erzsebetrosztoczy]

hi!! i saw your post abt proto-hungarian religion. would you mind sharing more information? im hungarian and really interested in it, but have only found.. questionable sources from nationalist people lol. thank you so much!!

Hii Nonny!

Oh boy there are a lot of scetchy sites and untrustworthy informations, therefore I am a bit afraid, or more like cautious what I want to include, show here. (Also because I am not a scolar in these fields myself, but what I know, and what I believe would be correct and true I can share)

Thing is, our pre-christian culture and religion haven’t been that important narrative-vise for a long time, given our history, the religious/political biases. We still need to research and learn so so many things from the ancient hungarians it makes my head dizzy lol. I will try to shorten this post and be as specific and cohernt as possible.

I would recomend the book from Diószegi Vilmos -  A pogány magyarok hitvilága

Overall about the pre- christian or proto-hungarian religion:

The Proto-Hungarian religion, also known as ancient Hungarian or pre-Christian Hungarian religion, was the belief system practiced by the Hungarians (Magyars) before their conversion to Christianity in the 10th century. This religion was deeply rooted in shamanism, animism, and the worship of natural forces, reflecting the nomadic lifestyle and the broader Uralic and Turkic influences on the early Hungarian tribes.

Shamanism:

Shamans, known as táltos, were central figures in Proto-Hungarian religion. They were believed to possess the ability to communicate with spirits, heal the sick, and foretell the future. The táltos could enter trances, often through rhythmic drumming or chanting, to journey between the physical and spiritual worlds. These spiritual leaders were choosen by theri tribe by specific due to their physical/mental differences that they attributed with having a coonetction with the spirit world. (Therse differences usually manifested in having more finger on one hand, or having some type of mentall illnes f.e.: seizures)

Animism and Nature Worship:

Proto-Hungarians believed that natural objects and phenomena, such as rivers, mountains, trees, and animals, had spirits. They held certain locations, like sacred groves or specific mountains, in high regard, believing these places to be the dwelling spots of powerful spirits.

Animism is the belief that all objects, things and natural phenomena have a soul and spiritual essence, and based on this, respect for them or the consistent enforcement of this belief in the behavior shown towards them. Its basic characteristic is that it animates all things (animals, plants, rocks, rivers, wind, etc.), both living and non-living, as having souls and spirits. As a result, his way of seeing is pictorial, not abstract concepts. His objects are primarily spiritual beings: souls, fairies, demons, etc.

Animism is not a type of religion, but a characteristic attribute of certain religions. It can be found most often and in its purest form in shamanistic religions and Shintoism.

We can briefly say about their religion that the proto-Hungarians were predominantly pagans, i.e. their religion was not based on monotheism; they did not necessarily worship a transcendent being. On the other hand, they had a moral, spiritual-consciousness and spiritual teaching system and a system of ideas designating life goals in the same way; like today's world religions.

According to researchers, in addition to the natural magic they brought with them, the ancient Hungarian people came into contact with ancient Iranian religions, Zoroastrianism and its branch, Zurvanism, the Mithras cult, Manichaeism, as well as the Vedic tradition and elements of Christianity. The pre-Christian Hungarian religion is probably a version of the belief systems known as shamanism and tengrism. However, there are various theories regarding the exact nature and elements of the "Hungarian primordial religion" within and outside of academia, so there is currently no unified canon of the Hungarian primordial religion and Hungarian mythology. (My guess is that when we were roaming Europe as merchenaries we picked up quite a few elements of other pagan – and Christian religion sas well that just kinda stayed in our religion overtime.)

The proto-Hungarians did not make written records, so we can only rely on the records of other nations, archaeological findings, and later reports and folklore. Christianity, starting from the principle of superiority, also ensured that the doctrines and spiritual and material memories of the former pagan faith were destroyed. (One example: When they  later christianized Boldogasszony’s persona into The Virgin Mary.)

There’s a theory that based on the prevalence of the parallels today in many pagan religions, it can be assumed that the Stone Age predecessor of the Hungarian ancestral religion was the religion of several nations at the same time. In the last hundred thousand years, during the independence of our nation and the separation of homo sapiens from other ethnic groups, the ancestral religion became more and more uniquely Hungarian. Even after the separation, the Hungarian original religion retained a good part of its original characteristics. At the dawn of history, it had a decisive influence on the religions of Eurasia and America. The Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, Greek, Egyptian, Semitic, etc., drew directly or indirectly from the same ancient source of the Stone Age. Based on the typological identities and parallels, the Scythian, Celtic, Etruscan, Parthian, Hun, and Avar religions formed from the religions of the Middle Eastern and Turanian peoples with agglutinating languages ​​were also closely related to our ancestral religion. (If this true, then I think this is why in sooo many pagan religions we can find the Tree of Life motive for example among other things)

Steppe application of the ancient religion:

In addition to the Hungarian data, the state of Hungarian primary religion in the equestrian nomadic period is primarily explained by Scythian, Celtic, Etruscan, Parthian, Hun, Avar mythology, and secondarily by Greek, Iranian, Chinese, Indian, Semitic, etc. we can judge it based on the inclusions found in religions (from or related to the original Hungarian religion). The system of beliefs and rules inherited from the Stone Age proved its suitability for governing the nation on the steppe. It made it possible for the Hungarians to remain strong even in the midst of constant battles in the desert, and for their best connections to own the most valuable areas of the steppe zone - the centers suitable for controlling the Silk Road and the extremely fertile Carpathian basin, which closes the steppe-country road.

Similar to the beginnings, the end of the use of the ancestral religion cannot be tied to any single date, rather it is considered a process.

 The death of the Hungarian ancient religin in the Hephthalite Hun Empire may have started with the spread of Nestorian Christianity and may have ended sometime during the last pagan rebellions. However, if we take into account the modern use of our word God /Isten/, as well as the phenomena of ancient religious origin in our language, folk art, national character, Hungarian symbols, Christianity and other Eurasian religions, we can establish that the original Hungarian religion (changed, in its elements) is still alive today and affects our life.

The system of the Primordial Religion

Beliefs

The worldview is based on the trinity of Heaven-Earth-Underworld. Of the three levels, the Earth is the home of people. The sky belongs to gods, heroes, and dead and unborn souls. Based on archaeological and religious historical parallels, an afterlife located in the north (across the water) can be assumed; which was identical to the road leading to heaven (the world tree imagined at the North Pole). The Underworld is the abode of evil demons and fallen souls, represented by snakes, frogs, reptiles and dragons. In the three-level world, the idea of ​​the center of the Earth creates order and helps with orientation. The center of the Earth is where creation took place; from where the order spreads to the four corners of the world.

The only human who can travel or connect with the worlds above and belove Earth is the táltos /shaman/ who will bring message from the veil beyond through rituals. ((The spiritual leaders of ancient religions, such as hungarian religion would worth another whole post on its own. ))

Astrology is very prominent

The sky is the abode of the gods, so our gods left their mark on the starry sky. The stars also appear in our ancestral religious symbols (in the Székely writing signs formed from them, in our religious and imperial symbols, as well as in our folk hieroglyphs). The moon and the ancient Hungarian moon cult may have played a role in the calculation of time based on the lunar calendar, and in theories related to female fertility.

In the beliefs of the Hungarians (for example, in the Csaba legend) and in the Hungarian symbols, a clear trace of the privileged role of the Milky Way remains. The Hungarians saw the celestial deer hunt on the Tejút (Milky Way), where the star deer (the form of the goddess Enéh) Orion (originally Bél, later Nimrod) and his sons, Gemini (twins, i.e. Hunor and Magor) hunt towards the pole star, the top of the sky.

Belief in the afterlife

The belief in the soul living on after death was also an important element of the Hungarian ancient religion. The afterlife got its name from the fact that - according to ethnographic parallels - it was located far away, "beyond the water". In the graves of some soldiers from the time of the conquest, the weapon was placed on the side opposite to the one worn in life, and in some cemeteries the usual position of men and women is reversed. From these, Gyula László deduced the belief in a mirror-image afterlife, which is known among many similar peoples.

Ancestral cult, the dead

An important element of religion was the cult of the dead and the closely related ancestor cult, the belief in the powerful spirits of the ancestors, for which archeological monuments and decorative art are the main evidence.

Respect for the ancestors played a very important role in the religion of the nomadic steppe peoples, including the Hungarians. They regarded their ancestors with great respect and attention. In the world of the sky-high tree, after death, the spirits of the ancestors reached the place they deserved, a higher or lower level, which was determined by Tengri, the lord of the Sky, after judging the earthly merits of the deceased.

They believed that no matter how many enemies someone killed in battle, they could count on so many servants in the afterlife. Furthermore, if the spirit of the dead person does not feel well in the afterlife, it returns and brings trouble to those who remain here - until it is reborn in a new existence. Therefore, they were commemorated with frequent sacrifices.

[billy555]

iranian jewish lifestyle in Beverly Hills

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

BECAUSE THE QUEEN'S DAUGHTER WAS A REAL LOOKER -- HERE'S THE PROOF.

PIC INFO: Resolution at 1231x1683 --- Spotlight on Princess Anne (then age 21) attending a banquet/reception at the Hilton Hotel in Tehran, celebrating 2,500 years of the Iranian monarchy on October 10, 1971.

Source: www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/gallery/princess-anne-style.

[morosoro]

Well, Sense and Sensibility won my poll a handful of weeks ago, but as I only got around to finishing Song Of Achilles last week, I only began reading S&S today….

Unfortunately, as much as I want to enjoy it, as thoroughly as I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, reading just the first few chapters earlier gave me a headache. It’s much too wordy for my little ADHD Zoomer brain to fully digest and comprehend right now, and as I want to fully enjoy the books I read, I have decided to put it back on the shelf for now, and revisit it at a later date, when I feel more up to the challenge of understanding the older language used.

Now, I could just choose the next highest book voted for in the poll, but where’s the fun in that? Instead I have shrunk the contestant size, chosen the top 5 books I am most considering, and only leaving the poll active for only 24 hours!

To make things more fair and to allow anyone who might not know my choices well to vote too, I will include a very quick summary of the blurbs on the back for context!

FEED: Main character, Titus, and his friends live on the Moon in a futuristic environment. They are used to a constant stream of online activity sent directly into their brains, called their ‘feed’, until a hacker causes them to malfunction and they are left with nothing but their own thoughts for what is presumably the first time ever.

Like A Love Story: Setting is 1989, New York City. Main character is a teenage boy named Reza. Reza is a gay, closeted, Iranian immigrant who is afraid for people to find out he’s gay as all he knows about the ‘lifestyle’ are the media’s images of men dying from AIDS. A girl he dates, Judy, has an uncle with AIDS who devotes his time to activism with ACT UP. Judy is also best friends with the only out-and-proud guy at their school, Art, who is rebelling against his conservative family by photographing and documenting the AIDS crisis.

Fairy Tale: Main character Charlie is seventeen and meets an old recluse, Mr.Bowditch, who he starts doing jobs for. When the old man dies, he leaves a cassette tape for Charlie, telling the story of the secret he’s been keeping all his life; he has a portal to another world in his shed, and Charlie just inherited it.

Companion Piece: A woman receives an unexpected call from a former classmate/college friend asking for help deciphering a puzzling interaction. Everything is somehow linked to the life of a young blacksmith hounded from her trade and branded a vagrant nearly 500 years ago.

1984: Set in Oceania, a society is being tyrannized. In the furtherance of eradicating all expressions of individuality, people’s lives are constantly monitored via telescreens, helicopter patrols, window-spying and the Thought Police. Main Character Winston Smith sits in the one corner of his apartment that is hidden to write a diary, despite the threat of severe punishment.

[vaguelyprophetic]

Is the general theme with Stewy’s upbringing that the Hosseini’s were wealthy, nothing like the Roy’s but they were still well off. But Stewy didn’t really have much of that nepo factor as much as Kendall did when they were younger or just freshly graduated. Wondering if Stewy learnt the tactics to their lifestyle, blended in easily, attended the right events and got in with the right crowds that it all looked so natural to him. Also with the addition of the extra two steps he had to take just as an Iranian-American in that world.

I know Arian had the comment of Logan and Stewy’s dad being similar in a sense but I’m never letting go of the HC that Stewy is close with his family and his parents bringing him up in a world like that but in a healthy sense, far far off from how Logan did things.

I love and support Arian’s statement that there are the basic things we know about Stewy but he never wants to mention it in the show but ahhh do I really wish we had more Stewy facts than just interpretations from mini moments.

stewy blends into high-class society very easily. I'm trying to remember whether it was arian himself who said this or just someone with good analysis but there was a point about how stewy isn't an outsider because of the money (like tom or greg), he's an outsider because he's an iranian immigrant (or first-gen, depending on your hc) trying to make it in a world that is overwhelmingly white. so while his family definitely had wealth, at least enough to get him started, he's still never really felt like he completely fits in with that part of society.

I could see stewy's dad being similar to logan in the sense that he's older and a relatively no-nonsense businessman, but I'd like to think that he still really cares about his family and makes sure they know that. given that stewy's parents are canonically older (unless it was exaggeration, his dad is 95), I feel like he also had a much closer relationship with his sisters. I would love to know more about stewy's family and I do wish we had more insight!!! but succession is not a show that really expands on backstories, especially not for side characters. so I'm just living vicariously off of what arian talks about in his interviews and on twitter <3

[toptenbaz]

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With the aim of offering the fastest and most up-to-date news in categories such as science and technology, finance and economics, lifestyle, and authentic Iranian culture and art, Top 10 Bazz has become a trustworthy source. Backed by a team of professional journalists and writers, the magazine strives to present the latest developments and events in concise and informative articles.

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مجله اینترنتی تاپ تن باز

[thebandcampdiaries]

An interview with Ayric: an artist with a one-of-a-kind background.

-Thanks for your time Ayric! Can you tell us about your musical journey and how you developed your passion for music, eventually becoming a musician, singer, and songwriter?

Music, for me, is a window to a different and endless world.

In this world, I can make a music that originates from my feelings and the lyrics that come to my mind, with the combination of melody and harmony  ،this song is a part of me.

With my music, I relieve my sadness, I relax, I get happy, I get motivated and I continue on my way.

Along with enjoying music, it requires a lot of effort and dedication to continue and improve continuously

Special attention should be paid to each section 

And for a musician this is a lifestyle

- You graduated from the Tehran Music Conservatory in composition. How has your formal education in music influenced your artistic style and approach to composing and arranging songs?

University education in the field of composition has given me a deeper and broader perspective in this field.

But ultimately, in today's music, sometimes a single chord is much more effective than a complex harmony.

In a music that emphasizes singing, the melody of the voice is the most important, and during this study, I had the opportunity to learn, practice and improve my singing skill with professional teachers in the field of classical singing.

And I am currently using this singing ability to present the desired feeling in the song.

- Moving from Iran to Italy must have been a significant transition for you. Ayric, how has your cultural background influenced your music, and how do you navigate blending different musical influences in your compositions?

Basically, this forced migration happened because of the existence of a dictatorship in my country, Iran, and forced me to pay a lot of money and lose a lot of time.

But anyway, this has given me a better perspective of the future

Most of the songs that have been released were created before the migration. After moving, I have composed other songs, which will be released soon.

I use elements of Persian pop music in my work and always will; but for diversity and creating new works, I use elements from different genres of music, so that it is in the format defined for me.

- “Life is Beautiful" seems to carry a powerful message about finding hope and beauty in the face of life's challenges. What inspired you to write this song, and how do you hope it resonates with your audience?

The message of this song is clear, “Life is beautiful, open your eyes”.

The text of this song is from the famous Iranian poet “Rumi”.

This song is about wisdom, and like hundreds of other artists, I share my experiences with the audience in the form of songs. We, as humans, face many challenges, and it can be like a long marathon, and the thing that saves us is having hope and looking at the beauty of life. This song has a sentence: “I have seen the cure after throwing away the pain.” This means that we must see beyond the problems, difficulties, and pains to be able to overcome the challenges and continue our life's path.

We should not just be alive, we should live and enjoy it.

We Persians have a proverb that says: whatever comes from the heart will be placed on another's heart, and the audience who has a similar experience will connect with this song.

- Your collaboration with artists from different backgrounds, like the song "Incontrare te," demonstrates a willingness to explore diverse musical ideas and styles. How do you approach collaborations, and what do you believe they bring to your creative process?

Yeah, this collaboration was a wonderful experience and I have a long relationship with these artist friends

And when we came to the conclusion that we are offended by racial discrimination and the lack of equality and peace in different countries, and as artists, we felt it was our duty to do something to protest this situation, and finally, the song “Incontrare te” was made.

I am very interested in communicating with other artists, and I will continue these collaborations in different ways in the future.

In general, meeting different cultures is very attractive and will also lead to more knowledge, more learning and richer music.

- As an artist who has experienced different stages and platforms, from performing on stages in Rome to being featured on Italian TV, how do you feel your music has evolved, and what are your aspirations for the future in terms of your musical career?

I really enjoy performing on stage; seeing the emotional impact that my singing has on the audience is very interesting to me.

I am very happy that I can make and perform music that makes the audience feel good.

Performances definitely bring experiences and help to further progress.

In the future, I plan to release the songs and videos that I am working on and communicate with more audiences and also engage in music activities on a wider level.

Find out more about Ayric's music!

[charmwasjess]

I haven't done any cooking shit in this blog yet because I'm all hyperfixated on Dooku's nipples or whatever, so here's a cooking post about something simple I didn't know would be as amazing as it was: Naan-o Paneer-o Sabzi, an Iranian feta, herb, and flatbread platter.

The above pic is my version (flatbread off screen) the recipe I originally stole from NYT Cooking (link!) but it's so simple I can just tell you without needing to ramble.

The key ingredients:

Flatbread or naan (I suppose I could make it but I just buy it at the store because this is not a lifestyle blog, this is a Dooku's nipples blog)

Feta Cheese (a block looks prettier, I used crumbled here because I had it)

Fragrant herbs such as dill, mint, tarragon, basil

Extra fun stuff to decorate your little platter:

Watermelon

Raw cucumbers

Grapes

Olives

Dolmos (stuffed grape leaves)

Nuts

Anything pickle-y

I threw in there another firm white cheese because I had it and I'm a cheese plate ho

The whole concept is to take a small piece of naan and fix yourself a little bite with the feta and herbs, all the while crunching on the other raw items. It's absurdly good. It's an easy-to-put-together, rambling kind of dinner, surprisingly substantial, and fresh on a hot late summer evening. I paired it here with a nice little Costco brand rose wine because I'm cheap and it's delicious.

[mariacallous]

Scores of books go into print in Iran every year. Data from 2018 puts the number of published titles at 102,691, positioning Iran as one of the top 10 nations with the most books released annually. The figures have slightly fluctuated ever since, but Iran has remained loyal to its publishing bonanza.

A tradition of translating literature from English, as well as other European languages, into Persian has long animated Iran’s cultural scene, accounting for the lion’s share of Iranians’ reading preferences. Some of the country’s most celebrated intellectuals rose to fame courtesy of their translation work, which the middle-class treasures as a bridge to the rest of the world, facilitated by elites who understand the nuances of exotic cultures and interpret them for the inhabitants of a hermit kingdom.

As different realms of artistic practice continue to be constrained by the hard-line conservative administration of President Ebrahim Raisi and independent artists find themselves hard-pressed to subsist under heightened levels of fear and inhibition, Iran’s vibrant tradition of literature translation is becoming the collateral damage of a retrograde cultural agenda. For a government that is overtly opposed to anything that resembles the relics of the modern world, clamping down on translated books that showcase the best of Western literature appears entirely justified.

The introduction of some of the finest translated classic literature predates the Islamic Republic. Still, the translation of contemporary U.S., British, and other European novels and nonfiction into Persian gained currency following the 1997 ascent of the reform-minded President Mohammad Khatami, who ventured to reverse the country’s self-inflicted isolation and initiated a fresh national introspection on the relatively alien concepts of press freedom and civil liberties. Along with dozens of progressive newspapers that were issued licenses to operate, new publishing houses were founded that specialized in translated literature.

After years of cultural strangulation in which newspapers, books, music, and other forms of artistic expression languished, the birth of a nascent reform movement meant Iranians were afforded propitious opportunities to explore the outside world. International travel became trendy, and many families started sending their children to language institutions to prime them for educational programs overseas. At the same time, literary translators provided enchanting insights into Western life by making the masterpieces of U.S. and European literature accessible to Iranian readers.

As the rules on vetting cultural products were eased and censorship mutated into subtle forms, young, middle-class Iranians gained better access to the works of writers such as Margaret Atwood, Raymond Carver, Doris Lessing, Toni Morrison, Harold Pinter, J. D. Salinger, and Kurt Vonnegut, and exposures that were previously unthinkable were made possible piecemeal. The internet had not yet evolved into a dominant mode of communication, and people were still circumscribed in their ability to broaden their global experiences. The translated books would give them a glimpse of what distinct cultures and lifestyles looked like, especially regarding mundane particulars.

The year Khatami was elected president, no more than 2,450 titles out of a total of 14,386 books published were works of translation. When his presidential term expired in 2005, nearly 39,000 books were published, and 9,146 of them were translations. The significant rise in the number of translated books signaled that literary practitioners were orienting Iranian readers to the best of world literature and also that the market was receptive to that sort of output.

That doesn’t mean that every work of Western literature could be translated and published freely, though, or that those that survived the purgatory of censorship at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance were faithful, verbatim reproductions.

First, with Iran being an outlier of the 1886 Berne Convention on copyright, most books are translated in Iran without the authors’ and primary publishers’ permission, at times spawning international disputes.

Translated works were also plagued by bowdlerization. During the various stages of translation and preparation, any passage construed as having a political message that could be potentially unfavorable to the government was typically expunged preemptively by translators or eventually omitted by the stern reviewers based at the culture ministry, and the erotic innuendos that are fixtures of many novels were hardly ever tolerated. It was thus common to see poorly sanitized and redacted translations of Nobel Prize-winning books and other literary masterpieces for sale at bookstores and seasonal exhibitions.

Yet the window of cultural familiarization was open wider than it had been since immediately after the revolution, catapulting a number of prolific translators to national acclaim. Reading translated books came to be seen as a mark of intellectual sophistication and refinement. In cozy cafes in Tehran and other large cities, some of which had emerged as literary hangouts, passionate young people, including female university students, discussed the latest U.S. and European literature they had read, both as a departure from the vicissitudes of life and to flaunt their artistic know-how.

A career in translation soon became so esteemed that Iranian publishers featured the names of translators on the book covers with the same font size and stature as the authors, and usually included brief biographical blurbs of the translators somewhere on the back cover or before the preamble. However, translation work never matured into a profitable enterprise. Book circulations are notoriously low, and some titles are printed in as few as 1,000 copies. And despite near-universal adult literacy, which the government says stands at 97 percent (UNESCO puts it at 85.5 percent), reading is not ubiquitous across generations. This kept translators’ financial prospects within bounds.

With the advent of the internet and social media, the reliance on translated books as the primary conduit of learning about what lies beyond the national boundaries was challenged and supplanted with new availabilities, but the books didn’t lose their luster. Indeed, reading translated literature continues to be an emblem of enlightenment and cosmopolitan, pro-Western attitudes.

This is largely why resistance to translation has been a hallmark of the cultural policies of the various conservative, hard-line administrations that have been in power on and off since 1979—including the current government of Raisi.

Censorship has been the most effective tool used by hard-line administrations to sideline translation and stymie the intimate cultural connections that Iranians could have forged with unfamiliar Western cultures, even when those bonds were solely cognitive and cerebral. At times, translators complained that entire paragraphs or even chapters were eliminated from their drafts, often convincing them to withdraw the manuscripts in favor of their own reputation or that of their publishers.

Conservative administrations also often teamed up with like-minded publishers, earmarking substantial funds to purchase their books written by Iranian authors en masse, both as an economic stimulus and to proselytize a specific cultural and political viewpoint. The outcome was that in a barely competitive book market, publishers that primarily produced translated works were inevitably marginalized.

Since coming to power in August 2021, the Raisi government has been defined by its Orwellian aversion to civil liberties, women’s rights, and artistic expression. And translated literature has not been spared. Although no official road map has been announced on curtailing translation, it’s clear that the administration and its allies have been quietly working to thwart Western literature from influencing Iranian hearts and minds.

According to local media reports, in the three-month period ending on Sept. 22, 2022, a total of 1,431 translated books were published in Iran—a 37 percent decline compared to the summer of 2021, when 2,258 works of translation were printed over the same three-month period. In the first three months of the current Persian calendar year, 5,713 translated books have been released, while the number stood at 7,936 for the corresponding period last year, suggesting a steep decrease.

The administration doesn’t have the means to directly outlaw the translation of Western literature, though it’s likely it would have done so if it did have a legal mandate. But its top officials don’t shy away from publicly lamenting the notion of translation as something morally reprehensible.

Raisi explicitly told publishers at a recent book exhibit in Tehran that translated works should not be allowed to “overtake” domestically written books, and his minister of culture, Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili, said last year that “a stack of translated work has captured the minds and spirit of our children” and that this situation should change so that books written about the “rich Iranian, Islamic culture” become the focus of attention. He didn’t forget to mention that the “ideals and norms of the Islamic Revolution” should be preserved by the members of the book supervisory committee, which is in charge of ideologically screening manuscripts before they can be circulated.

During the 34th Tehran International Book Fair that wrapped up in May, books by Iranian authors were sold with a special discount of 25 percent, while translated books were offered with just a 15 percent price cut.

One of the members of the policymaking committee at the 2021 edition of the  book fair, the country’s largest cultural event sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and usually visited in person by the supreme leader, is on the record saying the prevalence of translated books can bring about “cultural invasion.”

He also argued that subscribing to the international copyright convention and translating treatises into Persian after securing permission from Western publishing houses is “extremely dangerous and illogical.” He didn’t elaborate on why Iran complying with its copyright obligations would be dangerous, but it is probably the case that, in the thinking of the Islamic Republic authorities, upholding copyright would necessitate refusing to arbitrarily abridge or alter the content of the books, and this is something they won’t acquiesce to.

Mohammad Hosseini, the vice president for parliamentary affairs and a former culture minister under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said in April that the translation of written texts from other languages during the Qajar and Pahlavi eras induced “infatuation, alienation, and Westernization” among Iranians. In a conference dedicated to what is billed as the “reverse translation movement,” he gloated about the government’s plans to have the books of Iranian authors translated into the world’s most commonly spoken languages. He claimed that “from China to the United States and from Russia to Africa,” people around the world are curious to read the works of Iranian writers and intellectuals, which is why the government is going to invest in encouraging “reverse translation” as opposed to financing the translation of Western literature into Persian.

It’s not a bad idea to promote books by Iranian writers and make them available to readers internationally. But as long as they are merely works of a religious nature or otherwise ideologically charged materials that the government wishes to popularize, rather than the best works of modern Iranian literature, the reverse translation campaign will remain a lost cause.

Many young Iranians are still avid fans of Western literature, and however determined the Islamic Republic is in monopolizing the public’s media diet and cultural interests, most no longer wish to adhere to the government-mandated way of seeing things. A silent crackdown on translation may deprive some Iranians of the chance to access what their counterparts are reading elsewhere in the world, but it is hardly practical to cordon off a population that has never lost its appetite for international connectivity.

[richincolor]

October Most Anticipated Reads

When I look out the window, I see the green leaves turning orange and yellow, gray skies, and people bundling up. When I look at my dining table, I see a pile of books, a mix of bought and borrowed. And I'm definitely not caught up on my reading. Despite the books in front of me, accusing me (I'm sorry!), I'm thinking ahead to all the amazing books coming out this fall that I can't wait to get ahold of. At the very top of my TBR? Let's take a look.

If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang

Out October 11 In this genre-bending YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates’ most scandalous secrets.

Alice Sun has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school, where she’s the only scholarship student among China’s most rich and influential teens. But then she starts uncontrollably turning invisible—actually invisible.

When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power—she’ll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price. But as the tasks escalate from petty scandals to actual crimes, Alice must decide if it’s worth losing her conscience—or even her life.

I Miss You, I Hate This by Sara Saedi Out October 11

The lives of high school seniors Parisa Naficy and Gabriela Gonzales couldn’t be more different. Parisa, an earnest and privileged Iranian American, struggles to live up to her own impossible standards. Gabriela, a cynical Mexican American, has all the confidence Parisa lacks but none of the financial stability. She can’t help but envy Parisa’s posh lifestyle whenever she hears her two moms argue about money. Despite their differences, as soon as they met on the first day of freshman year, they had an “us versus the world” mentality. Whatever the future had in store for them—the pressure to get good grades, the litany of family dramas, and the heartbreak of unrequited love—they faced it together. Until a global pandemic forces everyone into lockdown. Suddenly senior year doesn’t look anything like they hoped it would. And as the whole world is tested during this time of crisis, their friendship will be, too.

With equal parts humor and heart, Parisa’s and Gabriela’s stories unfold in a mix of prose, text messages, and emails as they discover new dreams, face insecurities, and confront their greatest fears.

Strike the Zither (Kingdom of Three #1) by Joan He, illustrations by Kuri Huang Out October 5

The year is 414 of the Xin Dynasty, and chaos abounds. A puppet empress is on the throne. The realm has fractured into three factions and three warlordesses hoping to claim the continent for themselves.

But Zephyr knows it’s no contest.

Orphaned at a young age, Zephyr took control of her fate by becoming the best strategist of the land and serving under Xin Ren, a warlordess whose loyalty to the empress is double-edged—while Ren’s honor draws Zephyr to her cause, it also jeopardizes their survival in a war where one must betray or be betrayed. When Zephyr is forced to infiltrate an enemy camp to keep Ren’s followers from being slaughtered, she encounters the enigmatic Crow, an opposing strategist who is finally her match. But there are more enemies than one—and not all of them are human.

[mrestate-ir]

Embrace the Charm of Shiraz: Your Dream Home Awaits

Nestled in the heart of cultural richness and historical splendor, Shiraz is not just a city; it's an experience waiting to be lived. Imagine renting a home in this enchanting Iranian gem, where tradition meets modernity in perfect harmony.

Welcome to the world of home rentals in Shiraz, where the echoes of poetry and the fragrance of blooming gardens create an unparalleled atmosphere. From quaint apartments in the old town to contemporary villas on the outskirts, Shiraz offers a diverse range of rental options to suit every taste and lifestyle.

Living in Shiraz means immersing yourself in a tapestry of colors, flavors, and traditions. The city's vibrant bazaars, exquisite Persian architecture, and warm-hearted locals ensure that every day is a new adventure. Whether you're an art enthusiast, a history buff, or a food lover, Shiraz has something to captivate your heart.

Imagine waking up to the sight of the mesmerizing Nasir al-Mulk Mosque, also known as the Pink Mosque, or strolling through the lush Eram Garden just moments away from your rental home. With a strong sense of community and a welcoming spirit, Shiraz makes you feel like you've always belonged.

Beyond the city's famous landmarks, renting a home in Shiraz means becoming a part of its intricate fabric. You'll find yourself exchanging stories with neighbors, sipping aromatic tea at local cafes, and indulging in authentic Persian cuisine that's sure to tantalize your taste buds.

Website: اجاره خانه در شیراز