Religious mourning casts pall on Iran's once carefree ski slopes

[emad]

Robert Tait in Dizin
Monday April 11, 2005
The Guardian

It would have made for a jarring sight at any place of leisure. But the large black banners mourning the death of the Prophet Muhammad and his grandson Hasan were cause for particular dismay among the small army of skiing enthusiasts expecting a day of care-free enjoyment on Iran's slopes.

The proclamations signified that the Islamic authorities had ordered the closure of Dizin, the country's leading ski resort, in memory of the religious figures, both of whom died more than 1,300 years ago.

It was a mourning festival observed with passionate intensity in mosques throughout Iran.

But among the affluent and mostly young secular-minded set who had travelled 80 miles north from Tehran with their expensive skiing equipment, it generated an outpouring of surprising - and, in Iran, potentially dangerous - blasphemous sentiments.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1456663,00.html

[donco6]

1. 9 out of 10 Americans have no idea about this:

Or maybe 99/100?

"We are born Muslims because our parents and grandparents are Muslims. But if you gave a choice to most young people here today, I think they would choose to be Christians or Zoroastrians."

Iman Rad, 22 - whose first name means faith in Farsi - said: "The problem is that we are Iranians and historically, we are Zoroastrians, while Islam has come from the Arabs. We are not Arabs - there is a difference between us."

Most Americans think Iranians are Arabs. Could not be further from the truth.