Figure 1.--.

HBC has very limited information about Iran at this time. Hopefully Iranian readers will provide some information here. Iran was formerly called Persia. We have some information on Ancient Persia. We have very little information on modern Iran nd do not yet have an individual country page. We do have a page on Zoriastrianism. It is one of the world's great rlgious traditions and was the religion of the Persian Empire. We have very little information about Iranian schoolwear at this time. We have on image of schoolboys in Yzed about 1908. We believe that smocks have commonly been worn, primarily by girls. We have a biography on Vartan Gregorian, an Arminian Christian.

Chronology

HBC has veryblimited unformation about Iran at this time. Iran was formerly called Persia. We have some information on Ancient Persia. Persia was of course conquered by Alexander the Great. Other empires such as the Parthians controlled Persia in anvcient times. In modern times, the Iranian Islamic Revolution has had a substantial impact on clothing, especially girls and women's clothing. The new Revolutionary Government began to dictate how women dressed in punlic: head scarves, long loose-fitting robes, pants, and closed-toe shoes, a kind of Islamic uniform. Various rationale were offered, among them was that it was inconvenient for men to be sexually stimulated by women. One Iranian girl recalls that before hervfamily was forced to emmigrate she calls the clothing divisions between the fundamentalists in power and average Iranians. She writes, "They had long beards or stubby faces. We shaved. They donned collarless shirts. We put on ties. They wore their black veils as naturally as a second skin, held the two corners by their teath, leaving their hands free to frisk us. We were the ones forced under veils, mummified. They were the superfluous salt-and-peper turbans in every landsscape. We were the bitter, watching. They, poorly educated mostaz'afeen were suspicious of anyone wearing perscription glasses. We were the ones with weak eyes. They began their speeches in the name of Allah. We began ours with good old God. They called themselves 'the faithful'. We called ourselves Iranians." [Hakakian]

Religion

We do have a page on Zoriastrianism. It is one of the world's great rlgious traditions and was the religion of the Persian Empire. The Arabs conquered Persia in the 7th century and from that time has been an Islamic country. The Iranian Revolution created a fundamentalist state which despite claims of democracy is a theocracy ruled by mullahs. Many young Jews supported the Iranian Revolution. Soon after taking power. the Iranian Government decalred Israel "Iran's greatest enemy." Soon Jews had to leave Iran, a country in which they had lived centuries before the advent of Islam.

Schoolwear

We have very little information about Iranian schoolwear at this time. We have on image of schoolboys in Yzed about 1908. We believe that smocks have commonly been worn, primarily by girls.

Individual Accounts

We note a biography on Vartan Gregorian, an Arminian Christian.

Sources

Hakakian, Roya. Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran (Crown, 2004).

Created: 8:45 PM 9/6/2004
Last updated: 8:45 PM 9/6/2004