A Study on the Religious Festivals in Iran, Safavid Era

Abstract

Holding the joyful rituals has a deep connection with different human societies. Iranian society has not been far from these traditions during its historical development. Following the development and continuance of the Safavid government (1135-907 A. H), an appropriate ground was provided towards re-creating and repeating different types of joyous rituals. It seems that these joyous rituals can be separated into two "traditional" and "religious" formats. Traditional festivities such as Nowruz, as a historical symbol, were an integral part of the court and the public rituals of the society; while a significant range of these rituals had an inseparable relation with the religious approaches of the government and society. The purpose of this article is to investigate and introduce some rituals related to the religious festivals such as Eid al- Azha, Ghadir e- Khom and Birth of Imams (PBUT) through the descriptive and analytical method and relying on library sources.

Keywords

• safavid
• religious celebrations
• traditional celebrations
• mab’ath
• ghadir e- khom