Learn Persian with Chai and Conversation

In the first part of our detailed study of Rumi's poem Rooz ō shab, we cover the first two lines, which are:dar havāyat bee gharāram rooz ō shabsar ze pāyat bar nadāram rooz ō shabWe go over the vocabulary and phrases in this segment of the poem, and also learn some concepts that are related to the words we are learning. We also learn about the Sufi concept, dar havāyat, of the intimacy of breath.

In this lesson, we learn Rumi's poem Rooz ō shab. In this poem, the words rooz, day and shab, night, are repeated like a mantra. Even though Rumi was a 13th century Persian poet, his poems remain extremely relevant and relatable today. So, don't be intimidated by the unfamiliar sounding language. Over the next few weeks, we will dissect the words and phrases used in this poem until it sounds like ordinary language to you. This poem is so beautiful, it might make you fall out of your chair.Unfortunately, there's not an easy version of Lotfi's interpretation of this poem to link to- however, if you check out this video at minute 19:00, you can hear it in all its glory. He starts by singing the poem, and eventually gets lost in the zekr, rooz ō shab, rooz ō shab, rooz ō shab.

In this final part of our Sohrab Sepehri dar golestāné series we cover the rest of the vocabulary covered in the poem. After this lesson, you will be able to understand the entirety of the selection of the poem we heard. 

In this lesson, we continue the study of Sohrab Sepehri's dar golestāné by learning more about the words and phrases in the middle section of our selection.

In this introductory lesson to Sohrab Sepehri's beautiful poem dar golestāné, we're joined by musician Fared Shafinury to talk about the general theme and meaning behind this poem. 

In the last lesson of this series, we talk about the importance of poetry in Persian culture, and talk about why we're learning this magical language in the first place. To find out more about Persian miniatures, check out the wikipedia page!

In this lesson, we learn the langauge associated with one of the most important parts of Persian culture- food. We learn vocabulary for different Persian dishes, how to consume Persian food, and how to talk about it afterwards. This lesson might make you hungry, somake sure to have at least a little something to eat before listening to it! Also, here are some links to some of our favorite Perisan recipes and food blogs: Najmieh Batmanglij's recipes are amazingTurmeric and Saffron is one of the best Persian food recipe blogs, with recipes for some of the foods we mentioned in the podcasAriana Bundy has amazing videos with lots of delicious Persian recipes