Iranian folklore

Iranian folklore, also known as Persian folklore, consists of jokes, folktales, games, folklore heroes and beliefs. It is often sophisticated and complex.

Talisman for warding off co-wife, undated. Harvard Library

Persian art
Visual arts
Art Miniature Carpets Calligraphy
Decorative arts
Arts of Iran Jewelry Embroidery Motifs Tilework Handicrafts Pottery
Literature
Literature Mythology Folklore Philosophy
Performance arts
Dance Music Cinema Theatre
Other
Architecture Cuisine Gardens

Heroes

• "Rostam"
• Samak-E 'Ayyar^[1]
• Pourya-ye Vali
• Hossein-e Kurd e Shabestari "The Kurdish Hossein of Shabestar"
• Baba Shammal
• Koroghlu (Iranian Azarbaijan)
• Maadar Fulad-zereh "Mother of Fulad-zereh"^[2]
• Ya'qub-i Laith is a popular folk hero in Iranian history, and it was at his court that the revitalization of the Persian language began after two centuries of eclipse by Arabic.^[3]

Dastans

"Dāstān" (meaning "fable, fiction, story, tale" in Persian) is a genre which may go back to ancient Iran. It was a widely popular and folkloric form of story-telling: Dastan-tellers (narrators) tend to tell their tile in coffee houses. They told tales of heroic romance and adventure, stories about gallant princes and their encounters with evil kings, enemy champions, demons, magicians,Jinns, divine creatures, tricky Robin Hood-like persons (called ayyārs), and beautiful princesses who might be human or of the Pari ("fairy") race.

• Samak-e Ayyar: An ancient fictional book about an Iranian ayyār^[4] (6th century AH) written by Faramaz Ibn Khodad(Faramarz son of Khodad)(Persian: فرامرز بن خداداد بن عبدالله الکاتب الارجانی ‎‎)
• Darabnameh: An ancient book of 12th Century, written by Abu Taher Tarsusi,that's a fictional book about the Alexander and Dara^[5][6]
• Firuzshahnama
• Dastan-e Amir Hamza, "The Tale of Amir Hamze" ^[7][8]
• One Thousand and One Nights
• Eskandar Nameh, "The Persian Alexander Romances", not to be confused with the classic book of Nezami, but rather more alike a version of Alexander romance that is used in Naghali,different versions of the tale were told by Naghals (popular storytellers), these versions departed from the western story and became, to varying degrees, Iranianized.^[9]
• Cehel Tuti , "The Forty Parrots" ; a collection of entertaining stories about the wife of a merchant and a pair of parrots.^[10]
• Amir Arsalan-e Namdar, popular Persian legend which was narrated to Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar.
• Wameqh o Azra , derives from the (also largely lost) Greek romance of Metiochus and Parthenope^[11][12] turned into a book of poems by Unsuri in 10-11th century.

Oral legends and tales

• Boz boz Gandhi "Suger goat" or Shangol o Mangol o Habeh-e-Angur , compare to The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids
• Maah pishoni "(the girl with)Moon(sign)in her brow"
• Sarma Pirezan "the old woman’s cold" :A ten- or seven-day period in the month of Esfand, that is believed that there was an old woman whose camels were not impregnated by the end of the winter, and as camels only mate during the cold, she went to Moses or, according to other versions, to the Prophet Moḥammad and asked for an extension of the cold winter days so that her camels might be covered. Her wish was granted, and that is why this period is called sarmā-ye pīr zan or bard al-ʿajūz.^[13]
• Nāranj o toranj (The bitter orange and the bergamot)
• Auntie Cockroach and Mr. Mouse;
• Kadu qelqelehzan, Rolling pumpkin ;

Creatures

• Karkadann
  

  The Nightmare in European folklore is similar to Iranian "Bakhtak"
• Davaal paa (Persian: دووال پا ‎‎) "lasso-leg creature"
• Aal ^[14]
• Bakhtak (Persian: بختک ‎‎)"Nightmare" A ghost or an evil creature that cause Sleep paralysis^[15]
• Genie " elf, goblin"
• Div, "Daeva", demon, monster,fiend, often confused with Ghoul(ogre, ghoul) and jinn in both folk and literary traditions, expresses not only the idea of demon, but also that of ogre, giant, and even Satan.^[16]
• Ghoul, Ghoul-e-biabani (Monster of desert),designation of a frightening creature in the Perso-Arabic lore. It is 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.^[17]
• Martyaxwar A legendary creature similar to the sphinx.
• Peri
• Zār (Persian: زآر‎‎) A ritual in some of the south coastal Iranian provinces that is a kind of spiritual "trance" dance. In some cases it can go for a long time,until the dancer drops down of exhaustion ^[18]
• Takam "The king of goats", a male goat, in the folklore of Azarbaijan.
• Shahmaran ,shah (king) of the snakes .

Folklore games

Physical games

• Amo Zangirbaff (Uncle chain-weaver)
• Attal Mattal Totuleh
• Ghayyem Moshak
• Gorgam be Hava
• Alak Dolak
• Ye Ghol Do Ghol
• Bikh divari
• Ghapp bazi "knucklebone Playing"
• Khar polis "Donkey-Cop"
• Aftaab Mahtab "Sunshine Moonlight"
• Laylay or Ganiyeh ^[19]

folklore Card games

• Hokm and Shelem:Games for four players.^[20]
• Ganjafa ^[21][22]
• Chahâr barg (4 cards) is another fishing game,also sometimes known as Pâsur,Haft Khâj(seven clubs)or Haft va chahâr, yâzdah(7+4=11).
• Âs Nas: Perhaps Âs Nas is the game from which modern Poker may have sprung ^[23][24]

folklore Verbal games

• Moshereh (Poetry Game):Every side has to answer the other side with a poem beginning with the last word of the previous poem (Compare with Urdu Mushaira).
• Ye Morgh Darm ("I have a hen" game)

other folklore games

• Backgammon

Traditional ceremonies

folklore Nowruz traditional characters

• Hajji Firuz traditional herald of Nowruz.
• Mir Nowrouzi "Temporary king of Nowruz times"(A Nowruz folklore Tradition)^[25][26]
• Fal-Gûsh (lit.divination by ear),is an act of fortunetelling in Chaharshanbe Suri.^[27]
• Amoo norooz announcer of Norooz's arrival.

folklore religious ceremonies

• Iranian folklore of Mourning in Muharram and Ashura Iranian way of folkloric mourning in mourning of Muharram^[28][29][30]

other folklore traditions

• Taarof
• Nāz-O-Niyāz, (lit.coquetry and supplication), An Iranian tradition in love, that is a game between lover and beloved which the beloved hurts her lover by coquetry (Naz) and the lover's response is (Niyaz) that is supplication and insistence in love.^[31][32]

Characters in jokes

A depiction of Molla Nasr al din

• Molla Nasr al din
• Dakho (دخو)

Beliefs

Cheshm Nazar

• Ajîl-e Moshkel-goshâ "The problem-solving nuts" of Chaharshanbe Suri^[33][34]
• Cheshm Nazar (چشم نظر)and Nazar Ghorboni (نظرقربونی): That is a pendant or gemstone or likewise that is used as necklace to protect its owner from Evil eye.^[35] Compare with Nazar (amulet).
• Cheshm-Zakhm (lit. "a blow by the eye"), the evil eye (Chashm also occurs alone with the same meaning; cf. Chashm-e bad, Chashm-e Shūr, Chashm-e hasūd "envious eye"; nazar zadan or chashm zadan "to inflict with the evil eye"; Middle Persian duščašmīh or sūr-čašmīh), the supposed power of an individual to cause harm, even illness or death, to another person (or animals and other possessions) merely by looking at him or complimenting him.^[36] Dried capsules of Esfand (Peganum harmala)(known in Persian as اسپند espænd or اسفنددانه esfænd-dāneh) mixed with other ingredients are placed onto red hot charcoal, where they explode with little popping noises, releasing a fragrant smoke that is wafted around the head of those afflicted by or exposed to the gaze of strangers. As this is done, an ancient prayer is recited. This prayer is said by Muslims as well as by Zoroastrians.^[36][37]
• fāl gereftan (Divination),Many varieties of divination are attested in Persian folk practice. They include interpretation of objects which appear haphazardly, interpretation of involuntary bodily actions (sneezing, twitching, itches, etc.), observing animal behavior, divining by playing cards (fāl-e waraq) or chick-peas (fāl-e noḵod), bibliomancy (e.g., fāl-e Hafez), divination by means of mirrors and lenses (āʾīna-bīnī), observation of the liver of a slain animal (jegar-bīnī), divination by means of the flame of a lamp, etc.^[27]

Mirror and Candles in Iranian Wedding Ceremony

• Mirror and Candles, in Iranian wedding tradition, it is customary to buy a silver mirror and two candles and place it in the wedding Sofra (a piece of cloth that is spread on the floor, and on which dishes of food and the traditional items of wedding such as Quran are placed ) and the first thing that the bridegroom sees in the mirror should be the reflection of his wife-to-be.Not only Muslims, but also Iranian Jews and Zoroastrians observe the custom of offering sofras to various holy figures.^[38]
• "Mirror and Quran", when buying a new home, it is customary to place a mirror and a Quran in front of it as the first thing that enters the new house.^[39]
• "Patience Stone", is a Persian popular folktale. In the tale, a patient stone, the most empathetic of listeners, absorbs the sorrows and pains of the person who confides in it.^[40] It is said that when the stone can no longer contain the pain it harbors, it bursts into pieces.^[40]

Music, Dance and Performing Arts

Naghali and Pardeh dari narrates important stories from the Iranian fables, myths and epics which have remained from ancient times with special tone, feelings and expression. In this play, one person both narrates and plays all the roles.Pardeh dari is a special kind of Naghali which is done mostly in the streets.There is a hanging picture on which some scenes of a story are printed. The pardeh dar (story-teller) narrates the story with a demonstration of the scenes. This kind of narration is used for epics as well as religious stories.^[41] Many naqhāls in the Safavid period specialized in single, though extensive stories; they were accordingly known as Shahname khan, Amīr Ḥamze khan, and the like.^[42]

See also

• Shahnameh
• Persian mythology
• Ya'qub-i Laith Saffari a historical Ayyar and Iranian king
• Bazaar
• Persian marriage
• Iranian tradition of esfand burning
• Ta'zieh
• Shamshir-e Zomorrodnegar

Further reading

• Rustam ‘Ajamī, Themes of Colloquial Quatrains and Couplets in Tajik Folklore, Quarterly Naqd-O-Taḥqīq, ISSN 2454-2563, Editor: S. Naqi Abbas (Kaify), Volume 1, Issue I, pp. 68–79, Jan-Feb-Mar. 2015, New Delhi (in Persian)
• Naqib-al-Mamalek, Mohammad-Ali (1961). Mahjub, M. J., ed. Amir Arsalan-e Rumi. Tehran. 
• Gelpke, R. (1965). Amir Arsalan: Liebe und Abenteuer des Amir Arsalan. Zurich. 
• Pritchett, Frances W., ed. (1991). The romance tradition in Urdu: Adventures from the Dastan of Amir Hamzah. New York: Columbia University Press. 
• Daniel, Elton L. (2006). Culture and customs of Iran. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-32053-5. 
• Omidsalar, Mahmud (2005). "Magic in literature and folklore in the Islamic period". 

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Folklore of Iran.

• Daily life and social customs An article by Encyclopædia Britannica Online
• Folkore studies of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan An article by Encyclopædia Iranica
• Folk Poetry An article by Encyclopædia Iranica
• The passion (t'azia) of Hussein ibn 'Ali by Peter Chelkowski, an article of Encyclopædia Iranica.
• Multimedia of Iranian story telling (Naghaali )by children
• Card games in Iran
• Pasurbazi (In Persian) at the Wayback Machine (archived October 27, 2009)
• Ganjafeh (In Persian)
• Iranian women performing Naqqhali
• Lee Lee Hozak (Homa Sarshar's article about Iranian folkloric songs in Iranian-Americans)