(Noveen Movarekhi is a consultant and researcher in the area of international and socio-economic development. She worked on issues of education, gender and migration within non-governmental organizations and the International Labour Organization (ILO). She took a BA in International Relations and obtained an MSc in Development from the London School of Economics in 2000.)

The moon has become a dancer at this festival of love. This dance of light, this sacred blessing, this divine love, beckons us to a world beyond only lovers can see with their eyes of fiery passion.
-Rumi

Every year love is celebrated in the month of February worldwide—and Iran is no exception.

In a regime where societal conventions and mores intend to dictate when and how Iranians are supposed to feel, it seems that the feelings of the population are continuously slipping out of the rulers’ hands, even more so today. Iranians of all ages have never felt so much the need to feel and celebrate love, freely, like in the ancient times.

Indeed, evidence indicates that the worship and celebration of love are deeply rooted in the Persian culture and tradition and can be traced back to the pre-Zoroastrian era, as far back as 1700 BC. At that time, the feminine element of the divine pantheon was represented by Anahita, the immaculate and beautiful goddess of fertility, while Ahura Mazda, the greatest god and creator of the world, demanded from people love and respect to the Wise Lord. Since that era, love has been worshiped in Persian literature, poetry, music, painting and all other forms of art that have evolved to this day.

The worship and expression of love have always been part of the classical Persian literature and poetry in different forms and styles: first in the form of the ballads and epic poems, which later developed into lyrics, hymns, satires and romantic stories. Hafez (14th century) and Saadi (13th century) are renowned for mastering ghazal poems used to express mystical or human and romantic love as in “Divan-e Hafez” and the “Ghazaliat” of Saadi. Hafez has always considered love as pivotal in his very own life and his Sufistic love poems have and continue to fuel many Iranian romances. Married couples and lovers pay tribute to the poet and his work by regular visits to his mausoleum in Shiraz. Saadi excels in combining the expression of love or the description of nature with mystical aspirations. His “Golestan” is a skillful synthesis of lyrical, mystical and courtly love themes. Mowlana (also known as Jalaluddin Rumi, 13th century), Nezami (12th century) and Attar (12th century) all used the narrative form of masnavi for their epic poems. Rumi’s Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi is a collection of poems with a deep mystical connotation. Leila and Majnoun and Khosrow and Shirin, both written by Nezami, are romantic love stories revealing the path of the soul. Haft Peykar (Seven Beauties) is the story of the King Bahram in the Sassanid Empire (226-651) who falls in love with and marries seven princesses who he has seen portrayed on a painting. Attar’s work includes love stories in his “Ghazaliat”. Ferdowsi (10th century) is world famous for his illustrious epics based on Persian myths, legends and historical events. Bijan and Manijeh is a love story known to all Iranians. Among contemporary Persian writers and poets, Forough Farrokhzad, Fereydoun Moshiri, Simine Behbehani and Ahmad Shamlou, among many others, have extensively composed poems on love.

Likewise, music in its classical and modern forms has always been part of the expression of love in Iran. Persian songs go back as far as 1000 BC at the time of the legendary King Jamshid of the semi-mythological Kayanian dynasty and hero of the sacred text of Zoroastrianism (ancient religion in Iran), the Avesta. The walls of the Achaemenid Palace (559-330 BC) in Persepolis were echoing with the poetic singing of the romantic love of Zariadres and Odatis. Persian dynasties that have followed up to the 20th century have all truly cherished poetic art and love. Nowadays, Iranian musicians and singers in Iran and abroad—Majid Derakhshani, Dariush Talai, Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri to name only a few of them—continue to perform classical and contemporary settings of lyrics from Hafez, Saadi and Mowlana. The sounds of ney (flute), setar (three-string instrument) and zarb (percussions) keep on moving and enchanting hearts, minds and souls of the young and old. Also, modern pop artists such as Googoosh and Aghasi used to attract crowds in the 1970s with their love songs.

To the same extent, the survey of Persian paintings reveals a range of artists depicting historical events, epic poems of the great Sufi poets and love. The oldest paintings date back to the 12th century approximately and have continued to illustrate poetry ever since then. The last three decades have given birth to a new generation of artists, such as Shakiba and Mahmoud Farshchian, whose work portrays women and love couples embracing in natural sceneries (Sweet Love, 1965).

The Persian language (called Farsi) is certainly contributing to the talent and ease with which Iranians convey feelings. Sweet and expressive, Farsi seems to have been created to speak love and affection. Words of endearment used in daily life include: jan (soul, dear), eshq (love, desire), asheq (the lover) and mashuq (the beloved), ghazal (courtly love, love poems), majnoon (the lover who is insanely in love), del (used as a metaphor for love) and zikr (drunkenness, mystical term to express desire for God). The list is long….

Iranians use these words in a very spontaneous way. However, in the current context, where the public display of love and pleasure is not only frowned upon but punishable, life behind closed doors has become a routine. People search and devise any ways to express feelings. Western-style bars are created underground, pouring with drinks and all sorts of drugs; in short with everything Iranians never needed to feel to celebrate love. The private sphere remains or tries to remain the sole space of freedom where the youth can fill the void of lost opportunities, consume alcohol, have pleasure and let out their emotions. As Azadeh Moaveni puts it, “the Islamic Republic has killed romance… it has killed so much that was vital—intellectuals, legal rights, peace of mind—that the death of romance, or at least of romantic spontaneity, is often overlooked.” In reaction to political repression and social constraints, the public display of love has been growing in big cities during the last decade. Married couples hold hands while strolling down the street or in parks; boys and girls sit close to each other in fashionable cafés and restaurants. Still, the best outdoor activity to escape control and repression and express freely your soul and true self still remains climbing mountains. Indeed, the guardians of the revolution never reach that high and mountains are the best keeper of secrets.

Iran has a population of approximately 70 million consisting of a large proportion of young people. Nearly fifty percent is below 20 years of age. According to the most recent data by the United Nations Fund for Population (UNFPA), the median age of the total population is 23.1. With such a growing young population, paradoxically love (or sexuality) remains in the heart of public debate in the Islamic Republic. Iran is in fact one of the only countries where this issue is clearly part of the political debate. One may recall that already in the 1980s, the former President Rafsanjani had recognized that repressing sexual needs may have negative physical and mental consequences on individuals’ health, and hence recommended the institution of temporary marriage (ezdevaj- e movaqqat). He suggested the institution as a solution to legitimize and satisfy natural desires of the Iranian youth while at the same time respecting the societal norms of chastity and virginity; this institution was highly controversial in Iranian society for considering the sexual dimension and ignoring the role of love (eshq) in marriage in particular and in male-female relationships in general.

Nowadays, despite or because of the restrictions imposed on the lives of people by the ruling clergy, Valentine’s Day appears to be celebrated by a growing majority of Iranians each year. For many Iranians, this is not only a way to regain stolen freedoms but also a means to feel part of the worldwide celebration for love. And above all, it is a demonstration of the Iranian people’s cultural openness: any culture that worships and celebrates love is glorified.

Undoubtedly, Iranians are hungry for love, joy and pleasure, like any other people in the world. The ideal of romanticized love still remains, one that is true, respected, respectable and responsible as celebrated in classical and modern Persian poetry of pre-1979 Iran. In the meantime, Iranians will keep on whispering love, not only in the month of February but also throughout the whole year.

Nothing better than love-tune I cherish.
Such sweet memory the Blue Dome can’t perish.
-Hafez