Rumi Day · Ruz-e Mowlavi

/mow.læ.ˈviː/

Culture of origin: Iranian · Cultural

Holiday sources: Iran

Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi (1207–1273), known as Rumi or Mowlavi, was a Sufi mystic and poet whose family came from Balkh and who settled in Konya, where his followers became the Mevlevi order. His meeting with the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz changed his life and began his poetry, from the Divan of Shams to the Masnavi, counted among the greatest poems in Persian. Iran honours Shams the day before; 8 Mehr usually falls on 30 September, the date given for Rumi's birth.