Iranian authorities arrested more than 100 young people celebrating the traditional festival of fire after clashes that left many injured and damaged property, the Entekhab said Thursday. The newspaper cited police Colonel Ali Bayat saying that 24 young people were hurt Tuesday night by home-made fireworks lit for the "chaharshanbeh suri" festival, which dates back to the ancient Persian Zoroastrian times. Iran's clergy have prohibited these celebrations for being pagan and inappropriate for an Islamic society, but they are now tolerated to some extent by the authorities.
If it ain't Islamic, it must be pagan, whether Zoroastrians are "people of the book" or not, and for that matter whether the festival is Persian or Zoroastrian...
The festival, which involves jumping over bonfires lit in the street, usually takes place on the last Tuesday before the Iranian new year on March. Its date was advanced this year so as not to clash with the Shiite mourning period for the death of Imam Hussein, son of the prophet Mohamed's son-in-law Ali.
So they changed the date on somebody else's primitive festival so it wouldn't clash with their primitive festival. This Master Religion stuff is really convenient, if you're a theocrat... |