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Rain Making Ceremonies in Iran

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Mehmet Ilhan Başgöz
Mehmet Ilhan Başgöz*
Affiliation:
Departments of Folklore and Central Eurasian Studies, Indiana University
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Abstract

Pre-Islamic beliefs and practices abound in Iran, albeit with an Islamic veneer, have been entirely islamicized. One kind of such surviving practices is that of rain making ceremonies. In this article, seven major rain-making ceremonies are categorized, described, and interpreted, including some regional variants thereof. Attention is paid to the fact that these ceremonies are not limited to Iran, but are also found in neighboring countries (Iraq, Turkey, India, Central Asia), thus showing that these are all survivors of common ancient religious archetypes.

Type
Articles
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , June 2007 , pp. 385 - 403
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Iranian Studies 2007

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References

1 To steel the gutter of a house (Maragheh); to immerse a prayer rug in water (Maragheh); to stop work on Thursday (Miyab); to wash the head of a donkey (Zanjan); to burn bones collected from a graveyard (Kermanshah); to turn the tripod of a kettle upside down (Massé, p. 175); to stick pieces of dough on the back of a sheep (Kermanshah); to ride on a tree branch as on a horse (Luristan); to burn the head of a donkey (Khorasan); to steal the tripod of a widow (Khuzistan); to drum with the fingers on a tray that is placed on a korsi (Massé, p. 175) are examples of magic practices, which are performed individually.

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