TEHRAN, April 6 (Mehr News Agency) - A conference on Attar is to be held in Neyshabur, Khorasan Razavi Province on April 14. April 14 is National Attar Day, which commemorates the great Iranian poet and mystic Attar Neyshaburi, who lived from about 1145 to 1221.

Attar Tomb in Neyshabur

The secretary of the conference recently stated, "Several Persian scholars and cultural figures are expected to participate in the conference, which will open with speeches by the culture minister and the chairman of Iran's Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO)."

The day will begin with the casting of flowers on Attar's grave and the ringing of all the school bells in the province, Mohammad-Mehdi Majdi explained.

Experts such as Jalaleddin Kazzazi, Reza Anzabinejad, Mahmud Asadi, and Afaq Baibordi will discourse on many aspects of Attar's life and works.

Attar enthusiasts also plan to hold a ceremony in Attar's hometown Kadkan in which they will cast flowers on his father's grave, he added.

Attar's ideas had a great influence on the development of Islamic mysticism. He was the author of "The Conference of the Birds" and has a high status in the field of Iranian poetry despite his relative obscurity compared with other Iranian poets and mystics.

... Payvand News - 4/6/07 ... --