Today is a holy day, the day of Azar Izad and the month of Amordad, the ninth of Amordad in the year 3759 Zoroastrian calendar, the Tuesday of Amordad, 1400 solar, Amordad is the symbol of immortality and life, July 27, 2021 AD.
On this day, with the intention of driving away the Ottoman stooges from some areas of Caucasus, Shah Abbas’s troops returned Ganja to Iran in the year 1606 AD.
The Ottomans had already invaded the Caucasus of Iran by taking advantage of internal conflicts of Safavid princes. More than 2,500 members of the Ottoman army were killed in this war to deprive the Ottomans. Shah Abbas then sent Mohammad Pasha, the Ottoman-appointed governor of Ganja, who had been taken prisoner, to Mazandaran Prison.
Samakhi was also recaptured in a war that killed 4,000 of Ottoman troops and drove them back to the other side of Kars. On the occasion of the celebration of Ganja, this poem was composed on the same day: ((in Muharam, Ganja came back to Abbas). It was the Arabian month of Muharam at that time. The city of Ganja (the birthplace of the famous poet Ganjavi) is now located in the Republic of Azerbaijan. After expelling the Ottomans from the South Caucasus, Shah Abbas visited Tbilisi (Georgia), which was under Iranian rule. He ordered the reconstruction of the ruins of Yerevan (Armenia) and then left for his capital. During the Caucasus battle, the commanders of the Iranian army realized that the cannonballs should be the size of the cannons; otherwise there was the possibility of the cannon exploding. Therefore, there were immediate orders to manufacture the cannon and cannonballs in the same factory (Taken from Noshiravan Kayhanizadeh website).
Shah Abbas I was the fifth ruler of Iran from the Safavid dynasty. He was the son and successor of Shah Mohammad Khodabandeh, who ruled Iran for more than 41 solar years from 967 AH until his death. Shah Abbas was interested in architecture, music, painting, poetry, Naghsh Jahan Square, Aliaqapo, parts of the Chehelston, Chaharbagh, and Si-o se pol are works of his reign.
Izad Azar is one of the greatest deities of the Zoroastrian religion, and is the guardian of fire. Azar is one of the great creations of Ahura Mazda. Zoroastrians, in their history, consider fire as a sacred banner, and izad Azar is the guardian and symbol of stability and endurance of the Zoroastrian faith. In Iranian culture, fire is one of the valuable natural phenomena because it creates the heat of life in the body of other aspects of existence.
Azar, in Avesta pronounced as Atar, is the name of the 9th day of a 30-days month, and the name of the 9th month of the year of the Zoroastrian calendar. Izad Azar is the guardian of fire and an attribute of Ahura Mazda, and Azar is sometimes mentioned as an Ameshaspand. Azar is the source of fire, warmth and internal energy needed for movement and life. Izad Azar is one of the greatest deities of the Zoroastrian faith, and is the guardian of fire. Azar is one of the great creations of Ahura Mazda. Zoroastrians, in their history, consider “fire” as the flag of Sepandineh, and Izad Azar is the guardian of this symbol of stability and endurance of Zoroastrian religion. Fire is one of the four signs of nature that Iranians have always observed. It is good on this day to pray to Ahuramazda.
In Iranian culture, fire is one of the most precious natural elements because it creates warmth and life in the body of all aspects of existence, and illuminates the souls and hearts of Ahura Mazda’s partners with its light which is a sign of Ahuraian (sacred) Azar. It is the direction in which Zoroastrian stand to pray to Ahura Mazda. Every Zoroastrian should turn towards light and turn his/her back on darkness when praying. Fire attendants in the fire temples look after the fire so that it does not extinguish. Azargan is one of the special celebrations of fire in Iranian culture.
The sunflower is the flower that symbolizes Izad Azar.
