Waiting for the beloved who lasted 30 years in the central square of Tehran... The red dress and her story
Ferdowsi Square is one of the most famous squares in the capital, Tehran, in the middle of which is a statue of the famous Persian poet Abu al-Qasim Ferdowsi, the author of the Shahnameh epic. This square is located in the heart of the city, and although it is famous for its crowding and the presence of many government buildings in the streets leading to it, as well as the hard currency market and leather product stores such as shoes and bags, it witnessed an amazing love story that refuses to be forgotten in the imagination of the people of the neighborhood who saw this symbol love over the past decades.
This story goes back to "Sapphire", the girl who agreed with her lover on a date in Ferdowsi Square in Tehran in the fifties of the last century, and since the young man loved the red color, the young woman was keen to wear a red dress to be the mark between them in the square, and at the appointed hour she came waiting for her lover with its distinctive elegance.
The young woman in her twenties looked into the eyes of the passers-by to see who she wore her new dress for. The waiting minutes extended to an hour, then an hour and a half, then two hours, and so on until dark, and the beloved did not come that day. Her only option to know the fate of her lover was to continue her presence the next day, and she came waiting in her suit and elegance. The waiting continued for days, months and years, which were not stopped by the cold of winter or the heat of summer.
The story goes back to "Sapphire", the girl who agreed with her lover on a date in Ferdowsi Square in Tehran in the fifties of the last century, and since the young man loved the red color, she made sure to wear a red dress, and at the appointed hour she came waiting for her lover, and she waited 30 years
Yaqoot’s state of eternal waiting, which remained with her until the early eighties of the twentieth century, prompted her strong attachment to the color red, not only in wearing the dress, but even in the shoes, bag, and socks . She never wore another color, since she agreed with her lover that red would be a sign between them.
She clung to her suit and elegance, as if she would soon meet him in the crowd of pedestrians, so that they would sit together in that corner on the side of "Fisherabad" Street, in the northeast of Ferdowsi Square, which formed her eternal waiting site.
Multiple narratives about a failed love story
Years of waiting for the same look made Yaqoot a sign of love in Tehran, until her story became the talk of the people of the capital. They called her "The Lady in Red", and while some went to Ferdowsi Square to see her, the woman's story began to move in a variety of ways that reached more than 10 narratives, conflicting in details and uniting in the framework of the story, which proves that her love collapsed against the wall of failure.
No one knows anything about the fate of that young man, whether he migrated, got sick, got married, or died. One of these narratives says that some told her that the young man had married, but she did not believe them, and continued to wait for him.
In an interview with him in 2016, the Iranian artist and composer Tourej Shaaban Khani conveyed his memories of how he composed and performed the song “The Empty City” in the seventies of the last century about the Lady of the Red Color: “The song was written by a poet girl named (Shahbad), and because I was looking for a sad voice among the singers, I chose The artist brushed him to perform the song, because I had spoken to the woman in red in Ferdowsi Square, and I found her tone of voice sad.
He also explained her life story: “In her youth, this lady used to work in the houses of American and European advisors, and she met a young man who was a driver in one of these houses, and a friendship developed between them. One day, the two young men met on a meeting in Ferdowsi Square, and he asked her to wear a dress Red because he loves this color, but he did not come on time at the hour of the meeting, and no one knows the reason for his absence.
Women were ingrained in everyone's minds, until one of the narrations confirms, quoting shop owners around the square, that some girls used to offer her pieces of red cloth as vows when their needs were met.
There are more than 10 narratives about the story of the woman who became famous as the "Lady in Red", conflicting in details and uniting in the framework of the story that proves that she is in love.
It was also said that the famous doctor and writer, Ghulam Hussein Saedi, examined her one day in Ferdowsi Square and found her suffering from a fever, so he insisted on transferring her to the dispensary amidst her strong refusal to do so, and after her health care, he returned her to her place, and began to wonder about her even after his emigration from the country.
When everything is denied
After her fame spread everywhere, Iran's National Radio in 1976, in a program about love, dealt with her story in a special paragraph filled with feelings of love and accompanied by sad music. “Whoever has lived contrary to our way of life, and whoever has the audacity to live contrary to what we do, we consider mad. And if we do not know his intention to choose his unique way of life, we make him a story and wrap it in legends. And why not? Wasn't legends originally created in this way? "; This is what the famous broadcaster Masoud Behnoud said in that program.
The radio segment also included a press interview with this lady, to be the first and last meeting that history keeps on the red icon of love in Tehran.
The reporter begins his speech with these words: “I am in Ferdowsi Square, the permanent date of a woman in red. The lady you always see in red holding flowers in her hand, is standing in front of me now and I salute her.
The Lady: Hello.
?Reporter: Introduce yourself
Mrs.: Sapphire.
?Reporter: How old are you
Sapphire: 50 years old.
?Reporter: Why do you always wear red
Sapphire: Because red is better than other colours.
?Reporter: Do you like its color
Yakut: Yes, yes.
?Reporter: Why are you always in Ferdowsi Square
Sapphire: My website is here. where I go? Wherever you go, the sky is the same color.
?Reporter: Why don't you wait in another yard
Sapphire: Because I live here.
Reporter: They say you are waiting for someone.
Yakut: a lie.
?Reporter: Do you have relatives
Yakut: Yes, yes.
?Reporter: Why don't you live with them
Sapphire: I have lived alone since the beginning.
?Reporter: They say you are in love
Sapphire: No. I'm not in love. Now this talk (love) is considered shameful.
?Reporter: And how in the days of youth
?Sapphire: I was in love in my youth, but who was in love in his youth, will he remain in love in old age
Reporter: They say you were in love and had a date with your lover in Ferdowsi Square...
She interrupted the reporter's words and replied: It is not like that, but I have friends who live here, so I came to meet them.
Reporter: Since day one, you didn't wait for anyone?
Sapphire: No. These words are lies.
Reporter: Ms. Yaqoot, thank you and I hope your wish will be granted.
Sapphire: Mercy.
In her only interview, at the age of fifty, she denies her love story in her response to the national radio reporter, but the announcer confirms in his literary text during the program that Yaqoot's speech and tone of her words are more like concealing something than denying it. And when she described love as a shame because she was old, the announcer described her words as a document on the truth of her love story, because she was old and ashamed to reveal it, just as she confirmed her love in the days of her youth.
Perhaps she denied the secrets of her life for some personal reason, or she was not satisfied with revealing her secret to the public in front of the radio recordings heard by young and old. And the announcer started talking about some of the harmful actions of children towards her, or some passers-by mocking her madness in wearing red .
Exclusive footage of the red woman
In 1977, director Khosrow Sinai documented exclusive footage of Mrs. Yaqoot in his documentary film entitled "Tehran Today", he started with a shot of her, while she was sitting on the edge of the sidewalk looking at passers-by with a red bag containing everything she owned, and so he was keen to add shots of her many times during He made his feature film in order to tell his audience the story of the icon of love in the modern Iranian capital, and he concluded the film in which he talks about the developments of the capital in the seventies of the last century, with a scene showing the woman crossing from the middle of the street among the crowds of cars.
After the victory of the Iranian revolution against the monarchy at the beginning of 1979, Yaqut was forced to wear a headscarf, so she chose a red scarf for herself, but she suddenly disappeared from view in 1982.
Broadcaster and writer Masoud Behnoud mentioned in his video memoirs: “After the victory of the revolution, I searched for Yaqoot for several days in Ferdowsi Square, and inquired about its existence, but no one knew anything about it. They didn't know anything about her."
Masoud reproduced with his voice again the radio segment that included the dialogue with her , which had been broadcast two years before the victory of the revolution . In the above: Your denial and the trembling of your voice, O woman, tell us that you are in love and that you are from the tribe of the madmen of love.
Amidst the noise of the days that followed the victory of the revolution, the broadcaster moved the feelings of the citizens, and people started a wave of searching for Yaqoot's fate, but they never found her.
Yaqut Tehran in literature, music and movies
The superstar Fereydoun Foroughi sang the song "Always absent", as spoken by Yaqout. Likewise, the poet of Tehran, Muhammad Ali Sabanloo, did not forget her in his composition “The Lady of Time,” as Yaqoot was present in the novel “Zero Hour” by the two young men, Hadi Tameh and Amin Matin.
Cinematically, about 3 films have been recorded about her love story, between fictional and documentaries. Pop star Benjamin Bahadry also made a video clip for "Love Week", in which he searches for her in Ferdowsi Square. Thus, the artistic and literary works on the icon of love among the residents of the capital extended throughout the years after the revolution.
About 50 women dressed in red in Ferdowsi Square participated in a flash mob or surprise gathering in 2011 for a documentary entitled "Five in the afternoon in Ferdowsi Square", but the film did not see the light.
The theater stage also contributed to perpetuating the memory of the girl in love. A play dealing with the story of Yaqut was shown in 2016 under the title "Fisherabad and Two Other Stories".
Source : websites