The center presented books last week to people living in Hasirabad and Kuye Naft, deprived neighborhoods in the southwestern Iran city of Ahvaz, the head of the board of directors of the center, Fahimeh Sayyadi, told the Persian service of IRNA on Friday.
Making offerings of foods is common among Iranians during the mourning rituals, which are held to commemorate the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS) and his companions during the first ten days of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar.
“By promotion of cultural oblations, we aim to teach society that people can make offerings of books and other cultural items instead of foods,” she said.
“This is first time that an offering of books among the people attending the Muharram rituals has been made,” she added.
Sayyadi said the titles of the books were selected after consultation with some experts. However, she did not provide a list of the titles.
The target group in the book offering program was adolescents, she stated and added that the center has also taken children and adults into consideration in the program.
“We also asked the adolescents to loan the books to their friends,” Sayyadi said.
The Book Reading Group of the Citizenship Educational Center for Development, which was established in 2013, is one of the major departments of the center.
The center made many efforts to convince cultural officials to select Ahvaz as Iran’s Book Capital in late February 2015.
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