Pathology of the Nakhl-Gardani Ritual as an Object-Oriented Ritual with the aim of Iran's Living Cultural Heritage Safeguarding

Mohtasham, Adele; Samanian, Samad

doi:10.22054/qjik.2025.84921.1451

Pathology of the Nakhl-Gardani Ritual as an Object-Oriented Ritual with the aim of Iran's Living Cultural Heritage Safeguarding

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Adele Mohtasham ¹

Samad Samanian ²

¹ Faculty of Conservation and Restoration, Iran University of Art

² Faculty of Applied Art, Iran University of Art

https://doi.org/10.22054/qjik.2025.84921.1451

Abstract

The harms that have threatened many rituals and removed them from the cycle of human life also threaten the Nakhl-Gardani ritual. This can be understood from the idea of "changes in how the ritual is held and its preliminaries and endings, in such a way that they move away from its traditional-spiritual structure".Nakhl is a central and symbolic object in the Nakhl-Gardani ritual, the process of holding this ritual is based around this object, and the pathology of the continuation of the life of Nakhl is a large part of the pathology of the continuation of the life of the ritual. On the other hand, the accuracy in the mechanism of holding the Nakhl-Gardani ritual in the geographical-cultural area of the Yazd desert is a sign of the beginning of the harms and threats.The research question is as follows:What harms threaten the continuation of the authentic life of the Nakhl-Gardani ritual?The research method was descriptive-analytical, and the research data was provided by citing written sources, field observations, and interviews.Finally, a summary and conclusion were made by analyzing the collected content.The findings show that the damages, in three main groups, have affected the continuity of authentic life of the Nakhl-Gardani ritual.

Keywords

Nakh-Gardani Ritual

Ritual Heritage

Ritual Object

Conservation. Safeguarding. Intangible Cultural Heritage

Subjects

Indigenous Knowledge

- Abouseif, Doris Behrens and Vernoit, Stephen. (2006). Islamic Art in the 19th Century: Tradition, Innovation, And Eclecticism. Netherlands: Brill.

- Bunzel, Ruth. (1938). The Economic Organization of Primitive Peoples. In book: General anthropology. Franz Boas (ed.). Boston DC: Heath and Company.

- Causta, Josephine and Veccob, Marilena. (2017). Is UNESCO World Heritage recognition a blessing or burden? Evidence from developing Asian countries. Journal of Cultural Heritage. 27. 2017: 1–9.

- Chelkowski, Peter. J. (2008). NAḴL. Encyclopædia Iranica. Online edition. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nakl-object-in-the-mourning-rituals (Access date:19/1/2017).

- Chelkowski, Peter. J. (1979). Ta'ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran. New York: New York University Press.

- Chelkowski, Peter. J. (2010). Eternal Performance: Taziyeh and Other Shiite Rituals. Chicago: Seagull Books.

- Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003). UNESCO: https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention (Access date: 1/12/2015).

- Eller, Jack David. (2007). Introducing Anthropology of Religion. New York: Routledge.

- Greene, Virginia. (1992). Accessories of Holiness: Defining Jewish Sacred Objects. Journal of the American Institution for Conservation (JAIC). 1992. Volume 31. Number 1. Article 5: 31-39.

- Hohmann, Hasso. (2018). https://global-geography.org/af/Geography/Asia/Iran/Pictures/Iran_1973/Nakhl_in_Yazd (Access date: 5/3/2017).

- Korom, Frank. J. (2003). Hosay Trinidad: Muharram Performances in an Indo-Caribbean Diaspora. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.

- Québec Declaration on the Preservation of the Spirit of Place (2008). UNESCO. Adopted at Québec-Canada. https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/activities/documents/activity-646-2.pdf (Access date: 1/2/2016).

- Richards, Frederick Charles. (1931). A Persian journey: being an etcher's impressions of the middle East, with forty-eight drawings. London: London Jonathan Cape.

- Stovel, Herb. Stanley-Price, Nicholas and Killick, Robert. (eds.) (2005). Conservation of Living Religious Heritage: Conserving the Sacred. Rome: ICCROM.

- Turner. V. W. (1973). Symbols in African Ritual. Science. Vol. 179. No. 4078: 1100-1105.