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Iranian folklore encompasses the folk traditions that have evolved in Greater Iran.
| Part of a series on the |
| Culture of Iran |
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| Iranportal |
Iranian folklore encompasses the folk traditions that have evolved in Greater Iran.
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.
Iranian folktales:
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
Hormizd-Ardashir, better known by his dynastic name of Hormizd I, was the third Sasanian King of Kings (shahanshah) of Iran, who ruled from May 270 to June 271. He was the third-born son of Shapur I, under whom he was governor-king of Armenia, and also took part in his father's wars against the Roman Empire. Hormizd I's brief time as ruler of Iran was largely uneventful. He built the city of Hormizd-Ardashir, which remains a major city today in Iran. He promoted the Zoroastrian priest Kartir to the rank of chief priest (mowbed) and gave the Manichaean prophet Mani permission to continue his preaching.
Nowruz is the Iranian New Year or Persian New Year. Historically, it has been observed by Persians and other Iranian peoples, but is now celebrated by many ethnicities worldwide. It is a festival based on the Northern Hemisphere spring equinox, which marks the first day of a new year on the Solar Hijri calendar; it usually coincides with a date between 19 March and 22 March on the Gregorian calendar.
The simurgh is a benevolent bird in Persian mythology and literature. It bears some similarities with mythological birds from different origins, such as the phoenix and the humā. The figure can be found in all periods of Iranian art and literature and is also evident in the iconography of Georgia, medieval Armenia, the Eastern Roman Empire, and other regions that were within the realm of Persian cultural influence.
Persian traditional music or Iranian traditional music, also known as Persian classical music or Iranian classical music, refers to the classical music of Iran. It consists of characteristics developed through the country's classical, medieval, and contemporary eras. It also influenced areas and regions that are considered part of Greater Iran.
Parī is a supernatural entity originating from Persian tales and distributed into wider Asian folklore. They are often described as winged creatures of immense beauty who are structured in societies similar to that of humans. Unlike jinn, the Parī usually feature in tales involving supernatural elements.
A daeva is a Zoroastrian supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics. In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon, the daevas are "gods that are rejected". This meaning is – subject to interpretation – perhaps also evident in the Old Persian "daiva inscription" of the 5th century BCE. In the Younger Avesta, the daeva's are divinities that promote chaos and disorder. In later tradition and folklore, the dēws are personifications of every imaginable evil. Over time, the Daeva myth as Div became integrated to islam.
Mehregan or Jashn-e Mehr is a Zoroastrian and Iranian festival celebrated to honor the yazata Mithra, which is responsible for friendship, affection and love.
Chaharshanbeh Suri or Charshanbeh Suri, is an Iranian festival of the fire dance celebrated on the eve of the last Wednesday of the year, of ancient Zoroastrian origin. It is the first festivity of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.
Zahhāk or Zahāk, also known as Zahhak the Snake Shoulder, is an evil figure in Persian mythology, evident in ancient Persian folklore as Azhi Dahāka, the name by which he also appears in the texts of the Avesta. In Middle Persian he is called Dahāg or Bēvar Asp the latter meaning "he who has 10,000 horses". In Zoroastrianism, Zahhak is considered the son of Ahriman, the foe of Ahura Mazda. In the Shāhnāmeh of Ferdowsi, Zahhāk is the son of a ruler named Merdās.
What the Rose did to the Cypress is a Persian fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in The Brown Fairy Book (1904), with the note "Translated from two Persian MSS. in the possession of the British Museum and the India Office, and adapted, with some reservations, by Annette S. Beveridge."
"Doctor Know-all" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 98 in Grimms' Fairy Tales. It has an ATU index of 1641. Another tale of this type is Almondseed and Almondella.
Hāji Firuz or Khwāje Piruz is a fictional character in Iranian folklore who appears in the streets by the beginning of Nowruz. His face is covered in soot, and he is clad in bright red clothes and a felt hat. He dances through the streets while singing and playing a tambourine.
Yaldā Night or Chelle Night is an ancient festival in Iran, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Dagestan and Turkey that is celebrated on the winter solstice. This corresponds to the night of December 20/21 (±1) in the Gregorian calendar, and to the night between the last day of the ninth month (Azar) and the first day of the tenth month (Dey) of the Iranian solar calendar. The festival is celebrated in Iran and the regions of greater Iran, including Azerbaijan, Iraqi Kurdistan, Balochi areas, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The longest and darkest night of the year is a time when friends and family gather together to eat, drink and read poetry and Shahnameh until well after midnight. Fruits and nuts are eaten and pomegranates and watermelons are particularly significant. The red color in these fruits symbolizes the crimson hues of dawn and the glow of life. The poems of Divan-e Hafez, which can be found in the bookcases of most Iranian families, are read or recited on various occasions such as this festival and Nowruz. Shab-e Yalda was officially added to Iran's List of National Treasures in a special ceremony in 2008.
Shahmaran is a mythical creature, half-woman and half-snake, originating in Indo-Iranian and Turkic folklores.
Kashvād or Jashwadaghan, is an Iranian mythical hero. He is an emblem of victory, justice and loyalty in a story narrated in the poetic opus of Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran by the 10th-century poet Ferdowsi Tousi.
The Pishdadian dynasty is a mythical line of primordial kings featured in Zoroastrian belief and Persian mythology. They are presented in legend as originally rulers of the world but whose realm was eventually limited to Ērānshahr or Greater Iran. Although there are scattered references to them in the Zoroastrian scriptures—the Avesta—and later Pahlavi literature, it is through the 11th-century Iranian national epic, the Shahnameh, that the canonical form of their legends is known. From the 9th century, Muslim writers, notably Tabari, re-told many of the Pishdadian legends in prose histories and other works. The Pishdadian kings and the stories relating to them have no basis in historical fact, however.
Div or dev are monstrous creatures within Middle Eastern lore, and probably Persian origin. Most of their depictions derive from Persian mythology, integrated to Islam and spread to surrounding cultures including Armenia, Turkic countries and Albania. Despite their Persian origins, they have been adapted according to the beliefs of Islamic concepts of otherworldly entities. Although they are not explicitly mentioned within canonical Islamic scriptures, their existence was well accepted by most Muslims just like that of other supernatural creatures. They exist along with jinn, parī (fairies) and shaitan (devils) within South and Central Asian demon-beliefs.
Mahmoud Omidsalar is an Iranian literary critic and Jordan Center for Persian Studies' Scholar in Residence. He is known for his research on Persian epic and Shahnameh in particular. He is an editor of the Encyclopaedia Iranica and an author of The Comprehensive History of Iran. He has criticized Eurocentrism and Orientalism in his works.
Mazandaran is a mythical land that has more epic and romantic legends and myths than any place in Iran, which is the most important land of the cultural and identity puzzle of the Iranian people due to its location between the Alborz Mountains, Hyrcanian forests and Caspian Sea. Mazanderani mythology are based on Mazanderani people's faith in mythical and semi-mythical creatures and bearers of good and evil with the development of society. These stories were transmitted orally among the local people for many centuries. A large group of these mythical creatures became a part of Mazandaran folklore as separate stories.
Parmi les contes les plus célèbres [de Iran], citons: ... «La Citrouille qui roule» (Kaduy-e qelqelehzan), «Tante Scarabée» (Khâleh suskeh), ... «Orange amère et bigarade» (Nârendj va torandj) ... «Le Poulain marin» (Korre-ye daryâ'i) ... «Fronte de lune» (Mâh-pishâni) ...
(...) the story of Auntie Cockroach, as narrated by grandmas and published in storybooks over the years (...)
...reflexivity defines the amen bird's mythic role: the bird verbalizes the people's wish and they respond with "Amen" ("So shall it be"), thereby echoing the bird's name and making the wish come true...
He does so initially by setting up a series of connections between the amen bird and other mythical birds known or imaginable to the poem's readers.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of September 2024 (link)Parmi les contes les plus célèbres [de Iran], citons: «La Pierre patiente» (Sang-e sabur)...[Among the most famous tales [of Iran], we cite: "The Stone of Patience"...]
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The ancient tradition has transformed over time from a simple bonfire to the use of firecrackers...
(...) Poker is virtually indistinguishable from an older Persian game called as nas, a four-hand game played with a 20-card pack, five cards dealt to each player. This coincidence led some students of games to call poker a derivative of as nas, but this theory has been discredited. (...)
