1 The traditional festival for the Iranian people who celebrate the Persian New Year on the day of the spring equinox; date varies from March 20 to March 22.
2 A Muslim who has made the pilgrimage, also known as the hajj, to Mecca.
3 A well-known prison, located near Karaj, twelve and a half miles from Tehran, where many political prisoners have been held, tortured, and executed since 1979.
4 The second Iranian communist party, founded in 1941. It maintained close relationships with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It was a major political party in Iran, banned under the shah after the American coup d’état in 1953, then active again beginning in 1979, until the purges under the Islamic Republic.
5 National hero of modern Persian history. He was the founder of a revolutionary movement based in the forests of Gilan, in Northern Iran, known as the “Jangal Movement.” This uprising began in 1914 and continued until 1921, when the movement was dismantled, and Mirza Koochak Khan was assassinated following an agreement between Lenin and Reza Khan, the future Persian monarch.
6 The first republic, proclaimed by Mirza Koochak Khan in Rasht, the capital city of Gilan, in 1920 and overthrown in 1921.
7 The 28 Mordad (August 19) coup d’état took place at the culmination of secret operation “Ajax” led by the United Kingdom and the United States, and executed by the CIA. Its aim was to restore the shah to his throne, in order to preserve Western interests in the exploitation of Iranian oil deposits by chasing out Mosaddegh, the Iranian Prime Minister, who had nationalized oil.
8 Remote and mountainous region of Gilan.
9 Literally “men of the woods.”
10 Ayat al-Kursi is the 225th verse of the second surah of the Quran. It’s reputed to calm all sentiments: fear, anger, and sexual desire.
11 September 8th, 1978.
12 February 13th, the day of the Iranian Revolution’s victory. 22nd of the month of Bahman, according to the Iranian calendar.
13 Hossein Fatemi. An Iranian politician (1919–54). He was named Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh, to whom he would be an ally. He was arrested after the fall of Mosaddegh, condemned to death, and executed.
14 A mountain overlooking the city of Langerood in Gilan.
15 The Iranian border point nearest to Basra, which was one of the main targets of Iraqi attacks and subject to heavy human losses.
16 One of the branches of Fadayiane Khalg, an extreme-left guerrilla movement.