Shiraz to host National Sadi Day gathering
Experts will review Sadi’s masterpiece Gulistan at a gathering in Shiraz on April 21, which is National Sadi Day.
Each year specific aspects of the poet are covered during the event and this year his masterpiece Gulistan (The Rose Garden) will be at the core of the discussion, the director of the Center for the Study of Sadi .
Kurosh Kamali-Sarvestani stated that a ceremony will be held at Sadi’s tomb in which flowers will be put on his grave.
An exhibit of paintings and calligraphy works by Alireza Karimpur and cards bearing anecdotes from the Gulistan will be on display at the poet’s tomb, he added.
He went on to say that Iranian cultural centers in other countries will also hold commemorative programs on Sadi Day.
Scholars Ayatollah Mohammad Sadeq Haeri Shirazi, Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani, Ali Mohammad Haqshenas, Kamyar Abedi, Mohammad Qaragozlu, and Mahmud Ebadian will give lectures during the gathering in Shiraz.
Saeid Hamidian’s “Casting Aspersion on Sadi”, Hassan Mirabedini’s “The Influence of the Gulistan on Iran’s Contemporary Story Writing”, Mohammad Yusef Nayyeri’s “Spiritual Love in the Gulistan”, and Jalaleddin Mirkazazi’s “Jean de La Fontaine and Sadi” are some of the papers that will be presented during the gathering.
Kamali-Sarvestani stated that the eleventh volume of the book “A Study of Sadi” and “Golestanvareh”, a book featuring analyses of over 70 works influenced by the Gulistan, will be published on Sadi Day.
Although the grand style and magnificent language of the Gulistan is indebted to previous Iranian masterpieces, it is itself a literary renaissance of the Persian language, he noted.
About 700 books were written in imitation of the Gulistan but not one of them was able to match the original, he said.
The Center for the Study of Sadi has given a special name to each Sadi Day for the years 2006 to 2016.
Sadi Day 2006 was named the day of “Study of the Sadi Era” and was followed by the days of “Sadi Era” (2007), “Gulistan” (The Rose Garden) (2008), “Bustan” (The Orchard) (2009), “Ghazaliyat” (Lyrics) (2010), “Qassayed (Odes) and Assemblies” (2011), “Study of Transcripts and Publication of Complete Works” (2012), “Sadi, Iranian Culture, and Islamic Culture” (2013), “Sadi, Social Issues and Contemporary Literature” (2014), “Sadi’s Art, Aesthetics, and Popular Culture” (2015), “Sadi in Others’ Works and Others in Sadi’s Works” (2016).
