Celebrating the ancient Persian festival of Norouz at the bustling Wilder Art and Garden Center on March 10, (L-R) Mali Tafsiri and sisters Parisa Vaaleh and Pari Chehrehsa were among the 28 stall holders showcasing their exquisite handmade wares.
One would think that with so much world news constantly accosting our senses over the course of 24 hours, we’d all have a better understanding of other cultures.
Sadly, however, the occasional “good news” items are always outweighed by the bad – which is the news we always remember.
Minoo Akbarian, Banafsheh Rafii, Tandis Sayadi and Farigol Bineshpour are four Bay Area Persian women who are a little weary of being asked, as soon as they reveal their nationality, if they escaped from their home country.
“When people hear we’re from Iran they always have certain assumptions,” said Akbarian. She admits some are partly true, “and there are other things about our culture that are misrepresented.”
But for those of us living 7,000 miles away, one thing we know about this part of the world is that since the revolutionary Ayatollah Khomeni became Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, women’s rights have been severely and relentlessly restricted.
For example, any woman running afoul of Iran’s morality police by refusing to wear the hijab (a veil or headscarf worn by Muslim women) risks imprisonment or worse.
The difference in freedoms for women is an important reason these four Iranian moms wanted to create a connection between the two cultures they straddle. And the best way to achieve this, they decided, was to showcase their own rich traditions via Iran’s two major festivals, both of which are non-religious and more than 3,000 years old.
Commemorating the Spring Equinox, Norouz marks the renewal of nature and promotes peace and solidarity.
At the other end of the year, Yalda celebrates the winter solstice. Like most family holidays across the world, the occasion consists of special foods, stories, jokes, music, dancing and wish-making.
Last month, the four friends launched their first celebratory event – the Norouz Bazaar – and chose the Wilder Art and Garden Center as their venue. It was a huge undertaking and they were all a little nervous about whether it would succeed.
The venture attracted 28 vendors – mostly from the Bay Area, but others from as far away as Los Angeles, Missouri and Canada – selling games, clothes, jewelry, ceramics, textiles, homemade pastries and candies, all under a cloudless sky. There was also plenty of fun for younger visitors.
A scattering of tables held the seven traditional Norouz items that can be found in just about every Iranian home at this time of year: each an individual symbol of beauty, patience, love, affluence, good health, growth and sunrise.
Vendor Pari Chehrehsa, who recently moved from Canada to Lafayette, eagerly embraced the opportunity to have a table with her sister Parisa Vaaleh and friend Mali Tafsiri.
“Joining this event not only allowed me to celebrate Norouz with fellow Iranians from my homeland, but also provided a platform to forge new friendships,” Chehrehsa said. “The event proved to be a remarkable success as I connected with numerous local artists, made new friends and successfully showcased and sold my hand-painted silk Swarovski-embellished crystals and tiny painting necklaces.”
Although the majority of visitors to the Norouz Bazaar were Iranian, Rafii was pleased to see Westerners also enjoying this exotic festival.
“I would love this community to know that we are not what they see on the news,” said Rafii. “One of our missions is to empower our kids about their culture and not be embarrassed by what is happening around the world.”
“We are not our government,” added Akbarian.
Rafii agreed. “We can be elegant,” she said. “We can be classy and we can organize beautiful events.”
