Dec 22

Khor Day and Deygan – the day of equality of human beings in ancient Iran, and

This piece of history will be completely edited later          From 1738 BC, 1st of Dey has been named Deygan and Khor Day and , as ancient Iranians believed, has been the birthday of the sun, after the longest night of the year. 1738 BC (3746 years ago) has been taken from a special calendar of the Indian Parsis (Iranian Zoroastrians who left Iran in the 7th century AD, after Arab invasion, and migrated to India and stayed there). Ancient Iranians, who stayed awake, worried about the lengthy night and the sun not returning the next morning, would gather together and keep themselves busy the whole night to forget the depression from darkness. The day after that night (1st Dey), which they would call Khor Day or Deygan (similar to Mehregan), they would take rest and it was a public holiday. On this day the main reason that people did not work was that they did not wish to, by any chance, do wrong, especially tell lies, because any wrong deed, even if small, was considered a big sin, on the birth of the sun.      The traditions of Shab-e Yalda (Shab-e Chelleh – the longest night of the year) are preserved in Iran from two millenniums BC upto date and performed every year – not considering the imposed borders of the past 2 centuries.     In ancient Iran Khor Day (1st of Dey) was the day of equality of human beings (human rights). On that day everyone, including the king, would dress in ordinary clothes, to look alike, and no one had the right to give orders to others. All the work was done voluntarily and not by orders. On this day war and bloodshed, even killing animals and birds was prohibited.     Iranians believe in the two ever green trees, especially cypress, as the symbol of resistance against the dark and cold and would stand before the cypress on Khor Day and would make a vow that by the next year they would plant another cypress. The environment protection movements that have started from the 20th century are deeply appreciating this attitude of Iranians and respect it. Planting pine and cypress trees are now becoming a world custom.     It is worth noting that linguists think the word ‘day’ in Latin comes from the word ‘dey’ (the 10th month of the Iranian calendar). English is a grammatical language (German root) and in the family of Persian language.          Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour (AmordadNews writer)          * A remark from Mrs. Lohrasbpour:     "Zoroastrians have learned that Dey means God, according to knowledge gained from linguists, and also the late Mobed Rostam shahzadi.".

Tiridates I sat on the throne in the city of Damghan, on the birthday of the sun.

This piece of history will be completely edited later          On 22 December AD 247, on Khor Day, the birthday of the sun and the day of the great steps of Tiridates I, the second king of Iran from the Parthian dynasty, sat on the throne in Damghan, the 100 gates city, and promised the people who had gathered for the ceremony, that he will not rest until the day he throws all the foreign agents (Seleucids – Alexander’s successors) into the Mediterranean Sea. After the ceremony, on the same day, Tiridates I sent forces to Hircania (Gorgan) to punish its governor who, as he had heard, was in contact with the Seleucids, and his orders were executed.     Arsaces I (Ash I), the first king from the Parthian dynasty, made Nisa his capital and during his reign built a new city in that area and called it Ashkabad, which is presently the capital of Turkmanistan. It is not known from when this name, in the shrunk Iran of today, was pronounced Ishqabad. The Tsars who had, in the 19th century, added the north and northeast parts of Khorasan to their territory, made this wrong pronunciation to spread in Iran so that Iranians forget the history of this city. In that century, the British separated the eastern parts of Khorasan from Iran, including Harat so that the Russians do not proceed towards India. And, thus, Khorasan shrunk even more.          Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour (AmordadNews writer)