Marriage Customs and Traditions in Bakhtiari Tribe

In nomadic life, as a culture with specific features which represent the compatibility of human beings with the environment in order to make a living, man lives in a tight relationship with the natural environment and the effects of the nomadic lifestyle are clearly witnessed in all aspects of their life and livelihood. The nomadic lifestyle is based on ethnic, tribal, and social characteristics. The members of a tribe are usually relatives of each other. Therefore, most marriages are at the ethnic group and tribe level and between close relatives such as cousins. In this paper, through employing the field method and collecting first-hand objective evidence, the writer has described the marriage ceremony in the Bakhtiari tribe from its preliminary steps, such as calling on the girl, determining the amount of mahr (the money or possessions, promised to be paid or given by the groom or the groom’s father to the bride at the time of marriage), and exchanging gifts to the wedding party and post-wedding customs, such as Pagosha (the party given on the occasion of the bride and bridegroom’s visiting their parents and relatives for the first time after the marriage). Finally, the author refers to some other types of marriage customs in certain Bakhtiari tribes and discusses their positive and negative features.