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Celebration
of 3000th Anniversary of Zoroastrian Culture announced by UNESCO
Los
Angeles, California, USA
Date:
19-21st Decemeber 2003
Venue:
Morvarid Hall, California Zoroastrian
Center
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Photos from site of California
Zoroastrian Center. For details and more photos, visit:
www.californiazoroastriancenter.org
Watch:
CNN
Interview With Dr. Mehrfar
Fast
Download RealPlayer
Format if you don't have it
CNN
Interview With Dr. Mehrfar Better
Quality Download QuickTime
Forma if you don't have it
Thanks to
California Zoroastrian Center for sharing the video clips with us.
---------------------
December 22, 2003
Dear All;
We had a successful
3-day event. It started at 3:00 PM on Friday 12/19/2003 at the California
Zoroastrian Center with wine and cheese, tea and coffee, fruits and light dinner
and lasted until 9:00 PM.
On Saturday, 12/20/2003 the conference started per plan, at Anaheim Convention
Center with 7 speakers from Europe, Canada and U.S. Cultural dances and
Classical music were performed in between the programs. Two satellite TV
stations, recorded portion of the program and interviewed some of the organizers
and the distinguished guests. Various estimates put the number of people in
between 780 to 825 at different times. Messages from his Excellency president of
Tajikistan, Head of UNESCO, Mr. Matsuura, Chief of Administration, Mr. Perera,
Honorable mayor of Los Angeles, Mr. James Hahn, President of FEZANA, Mr. Mehta,
head of Zoroastrian Association of Tehran, Honorary president of Parsi
Zoroastrian Association of Singapore, Mr. Russi Ghadiali, president of
Zoroastrian Association of Quebec and Dr. Shahrvini, editor in chief and
publisher of Peyk-e-Mehr were read.
At the conference, we announced that the City of Los Angeles has declared the
year 2003 as the Year of Zoroastrians. An official proclamation was brought to
stage which was read and displayed to the audience and will be framed and placed
at the California Zoroastrian Center, in Morvarid Hall. Thanks are due to Dolly
Malva for making this mayoral proclamation happen. The conference ended at 4:55
PM.
The District Attorney of Orange County, the honorable Mr. Tony Rackauckas who
was also one of our distinguished speakers presented to us a proclamation on
behalf of the County of Orange which will be also framed and placed at the
California Zoroastrian Center, in Morvarid Hall.
The night gala had a large crowd at the Proud Bird restaurant close to Los
Angeles international airport. It stared at 7:30 PM and lasted past midnight.
The gala had 3 singers and performers, which made the dance floor filled with
the crowd. Dinner was served and a relaxing environment provided a good
atmosphere of conversation and information exchange for many friends, mostly
from various parts of U.S., some from Canada and Europe.
The day of heritage started at 10:00 AM on Sunday 12/21. Various ancient Persian
and Zoroastrian cultural and religious artifacts, handicrafts, customs, dresses
were showed by young men and women. Slides from pilgrimages in Yazd were shown
and the video of the Interfaith program by our dear Zoroastrian friends of
metropolitan Washington D.C. were shown. This vide showed the beautiful program
that the Zoroastrian Association of the metropolitan Washington had planned and
performed in the prestigious Washington Cathedral. The Great poet of Iran and
the father of Persian literature and language, Ferdowsi was remembered in a 2
hour program which at times was emotional and touched the inner feelings of
those who were present.
CNN International carried a live interview at 11:20 AM pacific time from the Los
Angeles bureau. This program was originally scheduled for broadcast at 11:00 AM
PST, but was re-scheduled at the last minute, due to the breaking news for an
unexpected Security Alert, raising to code Orange, announced by Tom Ridge in a
live presentation minutes before 11:00 AM.
The interview was focused on Zoroastrians, their faith and UNESCO’s
declaration. Interestingly; the issue of “Good and Evil” was also briefly
mentioned in the interview, a reality so true today and so profound in the
“Mental Dualism” of Zarathsuhtra’s messages. Which itself is an inevitable
resultant of the free choice that we enjoy based on the Principle of
Freedom/Responsibility, expressed in the core belief of Zarathushtra’s vision
in his Gathas.
Another major news agency, Voice of America (VOA) will be providing coverage of
the conference in their international program in coming weeks and are going to
set up an interview. We were contacted by VOA yesterday evening, and at this
time, we are at the planning stage. The details are being worked out as for the
schedules, timing and content.
In all, this was a teamwork effort with many individuals and organizations
involved. I would like to take this opportunity and thank all of the team
members who have worked with us for the last 5 months and express our gratitude
for making this a successful event.
Pictures, Videos, tapes, recordings of the event, publications and proceedings
are being handled by the center and information will be emailed out. If you have
any question, please contact California Zoroastrian Center directly at
[email protected]
Sincerely;
Khosro E. Mehrfar,
Orange County, Southern California
Conference Chair and Overall Event Coordinator
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