Chrsitians, Jews, Zoroasthrians,...

• En "reseskildring" (pdf på 5 mB) från resan till Iran finns på: http://www.bildningsforum.webbhuset.fi/start/#article-5362-1081-reseskildring-fran-en-bildningsresa-till-iran-av-martin-nase

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I found an article about the jews in Esfahan. This is something we would like to get an impression of, besides the armenian christian community that we visited in the Jolfa area and the zoroasthrian sun temple outside the city.

There seems to be more to come in the filed of observations enlightening things in another way than the standardized (Western, in this case) media.

In the picture: Roger Cohen, New York Times, in his article from 22 February 2009 on Esphahanian jews.

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This beautiful couple functioned as some sort of housekeepers in the jewish synagogue at Felestine square in Esphahan. Jadolla and Touran, together with a man who presented himself as Avraham (I thought he was a rabbi until I realised he sat there only to read the Talmud) showed us around in the synagogue. The old couple left an unforgettable impression in my mind. Who knows what they have experienced, what they have been taught and what they have longed for?

Anyway, we found places and peple clearly showing that even judaism is not un impossible idea in today's Iran. In fact they are guaranteed their (small number of) seats in the parliament, together with the christians and the zoroasthrians!

Multitude of traditions and histories

We climbed the zoroasthrian fire tempel mountain West of the city of Esfahan. An astonishing relict, one in a country of thousands (?) of mosques, hundreds (?) of churches and several (?) synagogues. A fascinating coexistance of memories from periods of various beliefs and cultures. More than one could expect, judging from the dominating media picture in West.

On the other hand, speaking of media picture; last night on TV was shown an American movie, dubbed to farsi. There was hardly a scene without guns, shooting and violence. Even chlildren (young boys) participated in the violence. Maybe this is a response to a simplified picture of the East served in the West. Media war.

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Två bilder av "vildvittror" (associationen kommer sig av Astrid Lindgrens Ronja Rövardotter, när de kommer i stora hopar). Man kan tänka sig att de skulle stå för sorg, kanske rentav ilska. Men sanningen att säga gav dessa i allmänhet ett uttryck av att vara både glada och positiva.

De fyra solglasögonmodellerna består av två flickvänner (från Kermanshah, och deras kompisar) till två trevliga gossar, Romin och Saeid, som vi umgicks med en dag kring världens näst största torg. Flickorna deltog i en universitetsturnering i bl.a. bordtennis och badminton och pojkarna gick omkring och dokumenterade arkitektur, de fick ändå inte vara på åskådarplats när flickorna sportar.

Te och vattenpipa

Could have been us, but this is a picture I've picked from the net. Yesterday night we became through orientals, by spending a few hours in a downstairs teahouse and traying out the secrets of the water pipe.

Where we were, there were no women though. But it all happened in the nice city of Esfahan, 350 km South from Teheran. We landed here, Thomas D. and I, a couple of days ago. With the aim of studying life and culture in this ancient Persian town, now a 1.5 Million modern city full of historical sites.

One interesting aspect is the presence of a 10.000 headed christian (armenian) minority, which can be found in the Area of Jolfa where also 12 christian active churches stand. There is also a jewish minority and both groups apparently go on coexisting nicely with the iranians. This is a positive surprise for many of us, I think.

But the dominant touristic element of course is the great number of important and beautiful sites in the range of islamic history and architecture.

So far, we've met only open, friendly and lively people. There is a great willingness to get to know strangers and help them (us) in exploring the country.

Persia here we come!

Arla fredag morgon inleds den länge emotsedda resan till Iran. Eller det gamla Persien, som jag föredrar att tänka. Intresserad som jag är av vilka intryck man kan få vid ett besök i ett land som har såååååå mycket längre traditioner än vi när det gäller kultur och bildning. Dessutom, till skillnad från Irak och övriga arabländer, inte en del av "arabvärlden" utan en alldeles egen del av världen.

Iranierna har kanske lite "huvudet för sig", som man brukar säga. Kanske lite som vi finländare? Nå det tror jag väl ändå inte, men intressant blir det.

Hållbar utveckling enligt Wikipedia och FN har tre beståndsdelar: ekologisk, ekonomisk och social. Det är alltid lika fanstastiskt att få se en bit till av vår värld, med tanke på den globala vinklingen på hållbar utveckling. Människor borde kunna ha det lika bra överallt i världen.