Ashoora Ritual in Ardabil Township: An Anthropological Analysis

The lamenting ritual of Ashoora in Ardabil should not be thought as a simple religious phenomenon; instead, it represents a highly lived and active sociocultural occurrence. The aim of this paper is to describe and understand the lamenting ritual of Ashoora in Ardabil as a cultural heritage as it bears sociocultural functions in the society that was studied. Using ethnographic fieldwork method, we have tried to present a close, precise and thick description of the Ashoora ritual based on Clifford Geertz and Emile Durkheim perspectives. The research findings categorized in two ways: the first is the order and quality of the lamenting ritual; the second deals with the symbols and signs of Ashoora. This paper demonstrates that the lamenting ritual of Ashoora constitutes a collective identity and unity in which individuality serves in favor of collective consciousness. The symbols and signs used by participants in the ritual are drawn from the cultural systems which in turn distinguish their identity and belongings.