TEHRAN – A group of Iranian literati plan to commemorate the poet of the Persian epic masterwork the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi, during a ceremony at Tehran’s Milad Tower on Tuesday.

 

This program is part of the ceremonies organized for May 14, which is Iran’s National Ferdowsi Day.

 

Experts on naqqali and pardeh-khani are also due to be honored during the ceremony, Persian news agencies reported on Saturday.

 

Naqqali is a style of storytelling dedicated to epic stories from Ferdowsi’s masterpiece Shahnameh. Another form of naqqali is called pardeh-khani, which is dedicated to tragic stories of Muslim leaders especially the Imams of the Shia.

 

Shahnameh, which is known as the “Book of Kings” in English, is the celebrated work of the epic poet Ferdowsi, in which the Persian national epic found its final and enduring form. It was completed in 1010. The Shahnameh millennium was accepted on UNESCO’s 2010 calendar of events.

 

Several live performances of naqqali and pardeh-khani are also arranged for the day.

 

Moreover, Ferdowsi University in Mashhad is playing host to the seventh Ferdowsi International Congress, which will close today.

 

Experts on the Shahnameh have been invited to the congress from Tajikistan and several other countries.

 

Tajik expert Shahmansour Shahmirza Khajaev and several Iranian scholars including Mir-Jalaleddin Kazzazi, Jalal Khaleqi-Motlaq, Hassan Anusheh, and Shahin Seraj are among the guests at the congress.

 

Visiting Ferdowsi’s birthplace Paj, near Tus in Khorasan Razavi Province, and his tomb in Tus are among the other programs of the congress.

 

RM

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