Living with Bakhtiari Nomad - 14 Days

The people of Bakhtiari or the Bakhtiari Lors or the Bakhtiari tribes are considered to be the people, who live in southwestern Iran in the provinces of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Kohgiluyeh, Boyer-Ahmad and Isfahan.

The Bakhtiari people speak the Bakhtiari dialect, one of the dialects of the Lori language. The Bakhtiari tribe consists of two branches, Chaharlang and Haftlang, that Chaharlang is divided into 5 chapters and Haftlang into 4 chapters. each chapter consists of several tribes. These divisions, called the organizational chart of the Bakhtiari tribe, date back to the sixteenth century AD and are organized based on the special class and tax system of the Bakhtiari tribes.

The present Bakhtiari land has been inhabited by various human groups for thousands of years. Various evidences show that the ancient land of the Lor people was inhabited thousands of years ago. Natural resources and facilities such as water, forests, pastures, good rainfall, abundant catchments and valleys suitable for agriculture had made this land one of the best habitats and gathering places for human groups in the past. In addition to these facilities, in the highlands of the Zagros and its slopes, it provided a suitable environment for the growth of forage plants and various species of animals.

Bakhtiari Letter

For the first time, Hamdollah Mostofi has mentioned the Bakhtiari dynasty in counting the descendants of the great Lor. The lineage that became more famous after becoming stronger and finally conquered most of the lands that are the residence of the great Lor today. Hamdollah Mostofi considers the Bakhtiaris to be of great Iranian descent, also known as the Great Lors.

The division of the Lor people into large and small Lors dates back to the reign of the Hazaraspians in the Lorestan region. The name of Little Lor was also given to the people of Lorestan and modern-day Ilam. It is possible that the word Bakhtiari is a modified word of Bakhtiari and Bakhtiari means Bakhtiari. Some also believe that the lineage of the Lors is from the Scythians.

Renowned French archaeologist Roman Gershman writes:

I have not set foot in this land (Bakhtiari) unless I have found an Elamite.

This indicates which before the conquest of the Indo-European peoples of the land where the Bakhtiari people now live; it was part of the country of Elam.

Hossein Pejman Bakhtiari, a contemporary poet, writes:

The word Bakhtiari, alone, means happy, and perhaps some of the chiefs of the tribes were known by this name, that was probably later known by all the members of the tribe.

Anthropology

The Bakhtiaris are one of the Iranian tribes living in the west and southwest of Iran. Bakhtiari people speak Bakhtiari dialect that is one of the dialects of Lori language. The settlement of this tribe is introduced from Frieden in the west of Isfahan province to the north of Khuzestan.

Residence

The Bakhtiari people live in the provinces of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari and in the north, northwest and northeast of Khuzestan, west and southwest of Isfahan, east of Lorestan and north of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad.

Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari includes the four places of Lar, Kiar, Mizdaj, Gandman in addition to Bakhtiari lands and therefore it is called Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari.

These lands are divided into two parts, summer and winter.

The summer and winter residence of the Chaharlang tribe is divided into two parts:

Summer section: one is in the area of ​​Frieden city to Doroud city and the other is from Semirom city to Lordegan.

Winter section: one is within the city of Dezful and the other is within the city of Izeh and the city of Ramhormoz.

The residence of the Haft Lang tribe is also divided into two parts:

Summer section: In the area of ​​Shurab, Gezi Strait and the slopes of Zardkooh to Ardal, it is the center of Koohrang and Chelgard cities.

Winter section: It is within the limits of Indika city and Masjed Soleiman city.

Bakhtiari dialect

Bakhtiari dialect or Lori Bakhtiari dialect is the dialect of Bakhtiari people. Bakhtiari dialect is one of the dialects of southwestern Iran and one of the branches of Lori dialect. This dialect has slight differences with other branches of Lori dialect, including Lori Khorramabadi and Lori Boyerahmadi.

Bakhtiari dialect is generally divided into four categories: Eastern dialect under the influence of Lori Kohgiluyeh; The dialect of the southern region is influenced by the dialect of the Bahmaei tribe; Chaharlang region dialect; The dialect of the middle part.

 Lori dialects have more or less differences. The Lori language is divided into two general categories, North Lori and South Lori. On the other hand, Linguist’s list categorizes Lori into three categories: North, Bakhtiari, and South. Therefore, Lori can be divided into the following three categories, that themselves include different dialects.

Northern Lori dialects, Lori Bakhtiari , Southern Lori dialects

Social organization

One of the characteristics of the social organization of the Bakhtiari tribe is the existence of multiple and intertwined social units within the tribe, in which a very high degree of vertical grouping is manifested at different levels. The social structure started from a black tent.

Black Tent

Each tent is the residence of a Bakhtiari family, which is also called mall.

Children

Each child consists of three to twelve black tents or more, that is a large family and is also called Urdu.

Tash

The sum of several children is called Tash. Each Tash is managed by a skilled and active person from the same Tash, known as the white beard.

Family

In different Bakhtiari tribes, each tribe is divided into several tribes. In the alleys, camps that are related to each other come together in the form of nomadic (family) units, each with a population of several hundred; so the sum of several stems that are all related to each other is called a genus.

Tribe

From the composition of the tribes, the tribe is formed, the largest of which (Babadi, Shahni, Ork, Gandli, Manjezi) reaches 300 to 400 thousand people.

Bob

Bab or block is the result of the combination of several tribes (Bakhtiarvand, Kian Arsi, Duraki, Mahmoud Saleh), but there is no kinship between the tribes of one chapter and the sum of several tribes that have lived geographically close to each other is called Bab.

Branch

Several chapters form a branch together. The Bakhtiari tribe has two main branches, which are the four Bakhtiari tribes and the Bakhtiari seven tribes.

Culture

Koch of Bakhtiari tribe

Although in the first decades of the present century many groups of the Bakhtiari tribe, like other tribes and nomads of Iran, became homogenous, but they are still part of the nomadic Bakhtiari tribes. Bakhtiari nomads spend the winter in the plains of eastern Khuzestan and the summer in the western parts of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari. The migration routes are called tribal routes.

Proverbs

Early proverbs were created by unknown people who are not known. Proverbs are rhythmic, meaningful, and usually poetic sentences that are passed down from generation to generation and from generation to generation. Comprehensibility for all people, simplicity, brevity, ability to convey the concept, general use and humor of proverbs have given them a special place among the people.

Music

The music of the Bakhtiari people can be considered a branch of Lori music. This music is played by instruments such as the serena, horn and cousin, and wind instruments smaller than the serena and horn. Thammals are in charge of music in the tribe, as well as in Bakhtiari weddings and mourning ceremonies.

Beliefs

Among the Bakhtiari people, like other tribes, there are many beliefs that are intertwined with the lives of the people and all their daily activities and dealings are based on these beliefs. Beliefs (superstitious or non-superstitious) are part of the culture of any nation and the source of movement and represent the way people live.

Mourning

In the Bakhtiari people, whenever someone dies, it is as if the whole tribe loses a family member and is mourned. Mourning ceremonies are held in a special way among the Bakhtiari people, and the way they are performed differs in different places.

Gagrio

During mourning, a type of mourning poem is sung by women called Gagrio. At the beginning of the recitation of Gagrio, it is customary for one of the famous women and widows of the tribe to recite a verse from Gagrio, and all the women agree with her, and that verse becomes the preferred verse, and the women, after reciting a few verses of that verse. Are repeated. Usually after reciting forty verses or less, another woman takes over the recitation and repetition of the poems, and other women agree with her, and this can take hours at funerals.

 Stone Lions

The stone lion is one of the symbols of Bakhtiari culture, that in Lori dialect is called the lion. The Bakhtiari people usually placed stone lions on the graves of their youth, heroes and elders. Stone lions are stone statues that were carved in the form of lions in the past by Bakhtiari tribes in Iran, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province and northern Khuzestan province, as a sign of courage, bravery and characteristics such as artist in hunting and shooting in war and skill in Riding was placed on the tombs of the elders of their people.

The city of Hafshjan used to be one of the most important centers of Stone lion carving and now a number of old stone mills in Hafshjan are still alive. The lions that remain in the cemeteries of Hafeshjan are considered to be the most beautiful and beautiful stone lions. The oldest stone lion in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province belongs to the Safavid period. According to legend, the stone lion is a relic of the Median era. In the last three decades, the unique stone lions of this cemetery have been looted. Of the city’s thousands of stone lions, only a handful remain. Parviz Tanavoli, one of the most famous sculptors in Iran, has published a book about stone lion and has considered Hafshjan stone lion as one of the most important examples in Iran.

Pavilions,

Pavilions, cavities or rooms dug into the rocks or rooms built on the ground, that were used as a kind of family tomb in the Bakhtiari tribe. In this method, when an influential member of the family dies, the door of the pavilion is opened and the remains of the former deceased are respectfully set aside, the new body is placed in it and closed again. Today, this method is obsolete and is no longer used for burying the dead. From this example, there are pavilions on both sides of Zardkuh – ie Bazaft and Birgan -.

The art of shooting

Mehrzad Ghanbari Sardar Akbari says in an article about this:

The brave and hardworking men of the Bakhtiari tribe have long been known for riding and shooting with the inhabitants of the Iranian plateau. As the prominent class of snipers of the Iranian army in the Safavid, Afshari, Zandiyeh and Qajar periods was composed of the elite snipers of the Bakhtiari tribe.

Today, every family of Bakhtiari tribes has at least one (authorized) weapon, so that in addition to hunting and guarding the Kian tribe, it can use its skills to defend the borders of the homeland when necessary. Tribal elders The first thing they teach their children is shooting and riding. Bakhtiari archers are sometimes so skilled in this technique that they can ride and attack a moving object. Among the heroism of Bakhtiari archers and cavalry, we can mention his role in the conquest of Herat (during the reign of Nader Shah), the Iranian constitutional movement, the conquest of Tehran, as well as during the Iran-Iraq war.

Clothing

Women’s clothing

Lachak is a hat that is used under the mina and is decorated with all kinds of old coins, pearls, stones and sequins and has different types. Sikh, rial, oyster, and the most common of that is the rial used in old coins.

The scarf is made of silk and has many dimensions in a rectangular shape, which are worn in a very special way. The mane is hung with a strong pin from one side of the elastic to the other behind it, which is called the season, and then the hair on the front of the head is twisted and pulled out from under the elastic, hidden behind the mirror, and the hair is cut. They decorate it with beads of different colors that give a special effect to the beauty of the mirror.

Clothing

It is a shirt called Joomeh or Joeh. This shirt usually has two slits around the waist and reaches to the bottom of the waist, and under it they wear a very hedge skirt called Sholarqari, which is then made of 8 to 10 meters of fabric.

vest

It is worn on a velvet shirt. Women also wear armbands, which are decorated with colored beads and stones. Of course, its use is not very common and is mostly worn at weddings.

Bottom cover

Ordinary pants and giwa are used. The color of Bakhtiari women’s clothing is inspired by nature. Young women and girls use light colors in their clothes, and the color of old women’s clothes is dark due to respect for their age.

Men’s clothing

Bakhtiari men’s clothing is one of the most original types of clothing that dates back to ancient Iran. This ancient garment consists of four parts.

Cap

It is a felt hat in black, light, dark brown and white colors, which is also called Khosravi hat. At first, Khosravi wore white hats, but after Reza Shah deposed them, he also forbade them to wear Bakhtiari clothes, so over time, white hats were replaced by black hats. Normal gave. Today, other children wear Khosravi white hats. Khosravi hat, as its name suggests, is a design of Khosravan hat, the Sassanid kings, that shows the historical antiquity of the region’s culture.

chogha

At first, Bakhtiari men wore a cloak called qoba, which had a slit at the side and also had wide sleeves, but after Reza Shah banned the dress, a cloak called chogha, which was worn by the subjects, became common and was made by nomadic women. Chogha is made of goat hair in two colors, black and white, and has anti-rain properties. It retains heat in winter and retains moisture and coolness in summer. Chogha motifs are short and long columns and the motifs drawn on the back and front are inspired by Choghaznabil ziggurats. In fact, the name Chogha is derived from the word Choghaznabil. This long robe was first used by the Medes (images of which are found on the tombs of material tombs) and can also be seen on some of the sculptures of the Sassanid era on the bodies of elders.

 Debit pants

To cover the lower body, black pants are used, that are loose pants and are sewn from fabrics called black debit, and for the past one hundred years, due to the use of Manchester debit factory fabrics, it is also called debit pants. . From the bronze statue discovered in Izeh, called the statue of the Shemi man, kept in the Museum of Ancient Iran, it seems that these pants are from Parthian clothing.

Shoe

The surviving motifs of the Achaemenid kings show a kind of footwear (shoes) on the feet of Persian kings, that is very similar to Bakhtiari quilts. In general, the clothing of Bakhtiari men is more than two thousand and seven hundred years old and indicates that the Bakhtiari people, as well as keeping their language, race and culture safe from mixing and tampering, have kept their clothing and clothing safe and original.

We intend to accompany the Bakhtiari nomads in this journey. Get to know the people of this tribe. Travel with them to experience their beautiful life. Talk to them at night in the tent and enjoy their funny stories. Let’s try the special and delicious foods of this tribe. This trip is planned focusing on Bakhtiari tribe along with visiting the historical and beautiful monuments of Iran.