Persian festival celebrates autumn

Mehregan, a major holiday in Persian traditions, is being celebrated

this weekend at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

The two-day event, which is set to wrap up today, is being called

the Persian Harvest Festival in English. Mehregan is one of Persian

culture’s two most important holidays and is a celebration of the

beginning of autumn, said Parastoo Derakhshanian, who represented the

Iranian Cultural Center of Orange County at the event Saturday.

The holiday’s roots go back to ancient Iran, she said. Mehragan

and Norooz, Persian New Year, are the two biggest holidays that

originated from old Iran.

The event’s brochure describes Mehregan as a holiday for Mehr, the

Persian goddess of love, knowledge, peace and commitment.

Saturday, a variety of creative pursuits were on display at the

fairgrounds. Tapestries on display depicted subjects that included

Christian images, portrayals of historic figures, and images of

beautiful women. Painters also showed their works at the event, and

poetry readings were held.

Artist Ali Heidari was one of the painters at the festival. Many

of the works he displayed were watercolor images of flowers

juxtaposed with Farsi calligraphy.

One work, he said, combined watercolors with a poem written by the

famed Persian poet Hafez.

When asked what inspires his work, Heidari shrugged.

“I love it. Love,” he said.

The venue for poetry readings was only a short walk from Heidari’s

paintings.

The poetry exhibit was called “Poetry That Is Life” and Shoja

Adel, who organized the poetry event and contributed his own work to

the readings, said many of the poems featured at this year’s event

have an anti-war theme.

“It’s a lot about peace,” Adel said.

One of the poets who participated was Parvin Bavafa, who lives in

Irvine. Bavafa said her writing comes from her “passion for being and

living.”

Two of her poems were compiled into an anthology that was

available at the poetry exhibit. One poem in the anthology is written

in Farsi; its title translates to “Painting” in English, Bavafa said.

The other, called “The Epic of Persian Women,” is written in English

as a protest against the treatment of women in modern Iran.

Mehregan is being held today from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at the Orange

County Fairgrounds, 88 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. Admission is $25.

Children younger than 10 will be admitted free.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at

o7andrew.edwards@latimes.comf7.