The Commemoration Day of Ferdowsi

15 May/25 Ordibehesht is the day of commemoration of the famous Iranian poet Abolghasem Ferdowsi

15 May/25 Ordibehesht is the day of commemoration of the famous Iranian poet Abolghasem Ferdowsi, the reviver of Iranian identity and spirit, and the teacher of wisdom and self-knowledge.

If language is the soul of a nation, Ferdowsi is the savior of the soul of Iran. Ferdowsi فردوسی was born in Tus, a city near present-day Mashhad, in the northeast of Iran, and lived between the years 940-1025 AD. Ferdowsi is famous for writing the Persian national epic, the Shāhnāmeh شاهنامه, or ‘the Book of Kings’. The Shāhnāmeh epic can be seen as Ferdowsi’s endeavour to preserve the history of Iran, and guaranteed the continuation of Persian language and culture. The Shāhnāmeh is composed of nearly 60,000 rhyming couplets, making it one of the longest epic poems in world history. It took Ferdowsi 30 years and numerous rewrites to complete.

As long as this planet of ours exists, Shahnameh would continue its existence, as Ferdowsi declared:

“…The flourishing monuments are doomed to destruction,

Either from effects of rain or sunshine,

But, I founded a high palace of verse,

Immune from rain and sunshine,

I would not die to perish,

For I have planted the seed of eternity.”