Iran’s supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iranians on Sunday to disregard the Persian fire festival of this week as an un-Islamic event which causes “a lot of harm”. Opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi has praised the festival as the festival of “Light and Enlightenment”.
Iranian opposition forces have announced that they will take part in the festivities of the last Wednesday Eve of the year, and use it as an opportunity to reaffirm their protests against the government.
Chaharshanbe Soori, an ancient pre-Islamic festival, is held on the eve of the last Wednesday (Tuesday evening to Wednesday night) of the Persian calendar year. This year, the ritual falls on the night of March 16.
Khamenei said on his website that Chaharshanbe Soori has “no basis in sharia (Islamic religious law) and creates a lot of harm and corruption, which is why it is appropriate to avoid it.”