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Mithra is a Persian deity and one of the three fundamental pillars of Zoroastrianism, a religion founded around 2000 years before Christ by the prophet Zarathustra — the same one referred to by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in his seminal 19th century work "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". Even before he was incorporated into Zoroastrianism, the figure of Mithra had been inscribed in Vedic texts in India and, after the Asian incursions of the greek Alexander the Great, he was a figure of reference in Macedonia, where several ceramic pieces have been found with illustrations of the deity as the central figure.
As the god of light, justice, contracts and, above all, the sun, it seems natural that his influence radiated so far from his native Mesopotamia. In the present-day territories of Mesopotamia we find a country that is heir to the entire Persian tradition: Iran. Far from the days of modernisation and cultural exploration of the 1970s, contemporary Iran is under the steel grip of the Ayatollah's theocracy, with a morality police that guarantees, between a solid wall of other repressions, a role of subjugation of women.
Aida Sigharian leaves Tehran in pursuit of music: she emigrates to Holland to study piano. In Amsterdam, she finds a large city where all artistic expressions and all the personal freedoms required fit. It was there that she also found something else: a Portuguese boyfriend, with whom she decided to move to Braga. The city didn't seem to live up to expectations and, shortly afterwards, she tried again in Viana do Castelo. Although the charm of this Minho city was undeniable, it was on the next hop that she found the second Portuguese passion that she never let go of: Porto.
"I really like living in Porto. I've been here for about 15 years and I don't let anyone around me badmouth Porto." It was in Porto that she also found a place of professional comfort. She teaches piano at the Porto Conservatory of Music, a place where "we have some freedom and are given responsibility to be effective at work". We spoke to Aida in a classroom at the Conservatoire, where she sits on the piano bench, momentarily with her back to the keys. "I also have to say that in the last year, with everything that's happened and I've been doing, the conservatoire has given me a lot of support." And what happened was the creation of the Mithra Iranian Association.
© Nuno Miguel Coelho
© Nuno Miguel Coelho
In September 2022, Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish student, was strolling with her brother in Tehran. She was stopped by the morality police for wearing her hijab incorrectly and not covering all her hair. She was taken there for what was supposed to be a briefing on good manners, but a few hours later she was admitted to hospital in a coma after suffering torture at the hands of the police. The wave of protests that erupted at yet another case of repressive violence spread around the world, reaching Porto as well. It was at one of these demonstrations that Aida came into close contact with the city's small Iranian community - estimated at between 200 and 300 people - which until then had been co-ordinating informally through Telegram groups.
Aida then assumed the desire to create an association capable of bringing this community together, of organising it for mutual support. The association's first public moment came with the exhibition "Woman, Life, Freedom" (a reference to a Kurdish protest slogan), which was on show at the Bonfim Parish Council until 24 February this year. A collective exhibition of 11 artists, with musical moments at the opening and closing. In their activities with members, they promote readings of children's stories in farsi, so that children born in Porto don't lose the connection with their parents' language and culture.
Meanwhile, in the Ayatollah's Iran, after the initial flurry of street protests, there has been a strengthening of violent oppression, with executions increasing in pace in recent months. But in Porto there is a small association that keeps alive the idea of the light of Mithra, an idea of justice that also once radiated from a part of the world where it now shines a little less brightly.
Vista da exposição "Mulher, Vida, Liberdade", © Associação iraniana Mithra
by Ricardo Alves
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