Ritual Performances of Women: A Symbolic Construction of Iranian Female's Concerns in Folk Culture

Tehranian women performed in their private gatherings without menchr('39')s presence. It seems that these performances were the manifestations their temporary dreams since their life conditions were much influenced by the culture of the society in which their freedom and power were threatened, and consequently their dreams were limited. In such situations, womenchr('39')s activities were done in hidden, away from the societychr('39')s control. This raises a question: What is the relationship of these ritualistic performances and the womenchr('39')s dreams on the one hand, and what is its relationship with their condition as a second sex? The research method is document analysis and field study. 27 Tehranian women between 60 to 70 years old were selected and their memories were recorded. There were some interviews regarding their narrations of these rituals; however, the main data consisted of the documents analyzed. The data analysis was through thematic analysis. Firstly, Turnerchr('39')s symbolic anthropology and Schechnerchr('39')s performance theory were employed for analyzing the ritualistic performances, and then Gluckmanchr('39')s theory of reversed customs was used to investigate the paradoxes within the elements of the performances. The findings shows womenchr('39')s dreams of having a safer environment and more power like men to establish security for themselves.