Iranian folklore

Folk traditions that have evolved in Greater Iran From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Iranian folklore encompasses the folk traditions that have evolved in Greater Iran.

Oral legends

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Perspective
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A storytelling performance of the stories of Šāhnāme, the Iranian national epic, in Qazvin, Iran

Folktales

Storytelling has an important presence in Iranian culture.[1] In classical Iran, minstrels performed for their audiences at royal courts[1] and in public theaters.[2] A minstrel was referred to by the Parthians as gōsān in Parthian, and by the Sasanians as huniyāgar in Middle Persian.[2] Since the time of the Safavid dynasty, storytellers and poetry readers have appeared at coffeehouses.[3]

The following are a number of folktales known to the people of Iran:[4]

Below are a number of historical tale books that contain Iranian folktales.

Heroes

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The statue of Arash the Archer at Saadabad, Tehran

Heroes in Šāhnāme

Other heroes

Characters in jokes

Creatures

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A Šāhnāme miniature painting, depicting a demon (div) throwing Rostam into the sea
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Griffin-like column capital statuary, from about 500 BC Persepolis, Iran. In local popular interpretation, the figures on these columns are perceived as representations of the Huma bird.
  • Āl: a scrawny old woman with a clay nose and red face who attacks pregnant women when they are alone and interferes with childbirth. It is believed that she carries a basket in which she puts the liver or lung of the mother,[25] although a variety of other descriptions exist as well.[26]
  • Night hag (baxtak): a ghost or an evil creature that causes sleep paralysis.[27] It is believed that the creature knows about hidden treasures, and one would be told of one of them by grabbing the creature's nose. One can rescue oneself from the creature by wiggling one’s fingers.
  • Himantopodes (davālpā): an evil creature that uses its flexible, leather-like legs as tentacles to grip and capture human beings. The captives will be enslaved and forced to carry the creature until they die of fatigue.[28]
  • Huma: a Griffin-like mythical bird said to never come to rest, living its entire life flying invisibly high above the earth, and never alighting on the ground (in some legends it is said to have no legs)[29]
  • Demon (div; from Avestan daēva): an evil being, devil, ogre, or giant.[30]
  • Ghoul (ğul): a hideous monster with a feline head, forked tongue, hairy skin, and deformed legs that resemble the limp and skinny legs of a prematurely born infant.[31]
  • Genie (jenn): a supernatural creature, comparable to the elves and the goblins, that is believed to have been created from smokeless fire and to exist invisibly alongside the visible world.[32]
  • Manticore (mardxâr: from Middle Persian martyaxwar), a man-eater with the head of a human and the body of a lion, similar to the Egyptian sphinx.
  • Amen Bird (morğ-e āmin): a mythical bird in Persian literature that flies continuously and fulfills people's wishes.[33][34]
  • Pari: a type of exquisite, winged fairy-like spirit ranking between angels and evil spirits.
  • Reera, Rayra or Raira: was a beautiful supernatural female who was believed to have brought beauty to the Northern jungles of Iran.
  • The Patient Stone (sang-e sabur): the most empathetic of listeners, which is believed to absorb the sorrows and pains of the person who confides in it.[35] It is said that when the stone can no longer contain the pain it harbors, it bursts into pieces.[35] It is also a very famous folktale.[36][37]
  • Šāh-mārān ("Chief of the Snakes"): the intelligent queen of snakes who has human features above her waist and those of a serpent below.
  • Shahrokh
  • Simorğ (from Middle Persian Sēnmurw, Avestan mərəγō saēnō; "raptor"): a benevolent mythical bird.[38]
  • Takam: the king of goats, in the folklore of the Turkic-speaking people of Azerbaijan. Traditionally, the stories of takam are recited in public theaters by a minstrel called takamchi.
  • Zār: an evil spirit in the folklore of Iran's southern coastal regions who possesses individuals and harms them.

Locations

Social beliefs and practices

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A stone depicting an eye that is made to protect one from an evil eye
  • Evil eye (češm-zaxm; Middle Persian: duščašm[39]), a curse believed to be cast by a malevolent glare.[40] To protect one from it, a pendant, gemstone or likewise that depicts an eye is used as an amulet.[41] Another way believed to protect one from an evil eye is to release a fragrant smoke of esfand (peganum harmala) and waft it around the head of those exposed to the gaze of strangers. As this is done, an ancient prayer is also recited.[40][42]
  • Divination (morvā, šogun, fāl), including interpretation of objects which appear haphazardly, interpretation of involuntary bodily actions (sneezing, twitching, itches, etc.), observing animal behavior, playing cards or chick-peas, bibliomancy (e.g., using the poetry of Hafez Shirazi), mirrors and lenses, observation of the liver of a slain animal, the flame of a lamp, etc.[43]
  • Nāz o niyāz ("coquetry and supplication"), a tradition between a lover and a beloved based on which the beloved hurts their lover by coquetry and the lover's response is supplication and insistence in love.[44][45]
  • Taārof, a sort of etiquette, defined as "the active, ritualized realization of differential status in interaction".[46]
  • In Iranian wedding tradition, it is customary to buy a silver mirror and two candles and place it on the wedding sofra (a piece of cloth), next to foods and other traditional items. The first thing that the bridegroom sees in the mirror should be the reflection of his wife-to-be.[47]

Ceremonies

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Jumping over bonfires on the occasion of Čāršanbe Suri

Folk-games

See also

Iranian folktales:

References

Further reading

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