Ferdowsi Day · Ruz-e Ferdowsi

/fer.dow.ˈsiː/

Culture of origin: Iranian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Iran

Ferdowsi (940–1025) of Tus wrote the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and one of the longest poems ever written by a single author. He grew up under the Samanids, whose support for the Persian language let its poetry flourish, and his epic joins the culture of pre-Islamic Iran to the Iran that came after. His tomb in Tus was rebuilt between 1928 and 1934, the year Iran held a millennial commemoration of the poet.