نشریه فرهنگ و ادبیات عامه
پیاپی 41 (آذر و دی 1400)

This article seeks to examine the functional types of local poetry and music of Sangesar which are registered as an intangible cultural heritage of Iran in December 2011. Sangesar, one of the cities of Semnan province, which is actually the residence of the Sangesar tribes during the winter, is currently known as Mahdishahr. The local music is a part of Sangesar folklore, which includes local songs as well as reed instrument (Lale), which has become popular in Sangesar due to its use by shepherds. In order to collect and study the songs, interviews and recording of the musical samples were done. This article deals with the typology of Sangesari songs and poems from a functional perspective with a descriptive-analytical method. The results show that the local music and songs of Sangesari include various types of servers, lyric poems, and work poems that are related to migration to summer and winter and protect the memory of local heroes and their heroism. The most frequent songs are lyric songs and ritual songs, especially Nowruz poems.

One of the characters seen in Iranian enchanted legends is Darvish. Darvish has certain abilities in the magical myth. He knows the treatment of some diseases and problems, and is aware of some hidden knowledge. In legends, in addition to Darvish Yarigar, who is particularly involved in the hero's birth and guidance, a kind of vicious dervish can also be seen. The vicious Darvish in the legends is a kind of witch who struggles to destroy the hero. At times, Darvish may not actually be a filthy creature, but in part, by creating a kind of ambiguity about his intentions, he seems to be a negative character who is in fact a hero's benevolent. The purpose of this study is to show that the dual face of the legendary Dervish appears to have a mythical infrastructure, and that Darvish's personality is linked to some ancient Iranian gods such as The Wyo, Anahita, and Mehr.

Various aspects of popular culture in Persian painting is a tradition that has been used for centuries. Basically, realism and folk culture have been considered after Herat school. Painters not only use these cultural elements to create the atmosphere of their works, but give them a metaphorical role to present a semantic layer to the audience. This function is mostly seen in mystical paintings through the display of the appearances of folk culture. Humans and their material tools, in the actions and situations of people, are the subjects of folk culture that play a role in the association of meaning. So, paying attention to ordinary people, especially in the rural and non-urban areas, and using them metaphorically, help the better understanding of the main theme. In this descriptive-analytical study via the case study method, various elements of folk culture in a painting of Mirseyed Ali entitled "Taking the Majnoon to Leili's Tent" has been read metaphorically from the perspective of folk culture.

Fire is the most important element that has played a role in the evolution of human nature and society for a long time. Its importance in the lives of the ancient tribes is unquestionable. Many rituals, customs, and celebrations of various nations of the world are completely associated with this element. In a descriptive-analytical paradigm and relying on the observational data, face-to-face interviews, and cultural content analysis, the present study aims to explain and analyze the cultural and religious functions of fire in the oral culture of the people in Satveh village in Shahroud city. In this regard, the symbolic manifestations of fire in the dialectical words, proverbs, allusions, and popular beliefs of Satveh people have been identified, studied, and analyzed. The result of the study shows that fire, as a sacred phenomenon, plays a role in the cultural horizon, and besides the four elements in the world, there is a cultural presence in the beliefs of the people of Satveh village. Combining the Iranian ancient beliefs with the Islamic ideas has set fire in a sublime and spiritual position in beliefs of these people. Fire is a symbol of light, divinity, and truth. On the contrary, the demonic symbols are highlighted with creatures such as "black dog", which is a symbol of darkness, devil, and iniquity.

This research seeks to recognize the mind-healer ritual dolls in Iran. These dolls are made or destroyed in rituals to reduce the psychological burden, stimulate a sympathetic sense. This article is a development and historical descriptive study. The data collection was document and fieldwork. The statistical population of the research was the Iranian mind-healer ritual dolls. The studied cases can be divided into two general historical and imaginary groups. The historical dolls are divided into two categories: Dolls from the Iranian history, and Dolls derived from the history of Islam. Also, among the imaginary dolls, one can specify three categories: Dolls derived from the mythological creatures, the ones from the literary characters, and the dolls used to meet every day needs. The use of dolls as a replication of a strong "Other", or the symbol of supernatural forces, has been a method to express all the words that nature, political power, ruling religion, or general beliefs have made them inexpressible for the doll maker. The ritualistic destruction of these dolls has led to the complaints of nature, abandonment of anger, and relaxation from the psychological burden.

Folk tales have the ability to enhance children's developmental process, mental capacity, and verbal intelligence. In this article, a type of folk tales called "chain tales" is studied and for example, the story of "Pirzan", one of the folk tales of Lorestan, was analyzed through descriptive-analytical and qualitative methods. The premise is that chain stories can evoke a child's sense of suspense and anticipation, and make him or her eager to hear the next loop of the story, and with this structural trick, accelerate the process of maturation and intellectual development and cognition of the child. The sequence of form and, of course, the content seen in the chain stories, causes the child to practice social skills, socialization, and participation in the process of acquiring collective identity. In these stories, abstract processes such as creation, and the good and causal system that governs the world, are given to their child in a chain-like and believable way. These stories emphasize above all the need for the child to be familiar with the process of participating in collective actions, gaining a common identity, strengthening the spirit of cooperation, and social cooperation. Since it is very important for children to cultivate and strengthen the spirit and development of a collectivist personality, it is worthwhile to use this kind of chain of stories in preschool and primary school centers used by education authorities.

Abu Tahir Tarsusi is an eloquent narrator of Persian folk tales, among which Darabnama, Abu Muslimnama, The Epic of Qur’an Habashi, Musyyebnama, and Qahramannama have been emended and published. In the current article, some of the slips and errors of the two emended texts, Darabnama and Abu Muslimnama, on which no research has been done, are reviewed and corrected. In correcting these errors, much attempt was done to cite the correct and original recordings of the editors’ original manuscripts, refer to the manuscripts of these two works and their styles, and present evidence from the texts. Also, by analyzing the content, meanings for rare words and terms in the two works, some of which are local and dialect words and have been lost from the glossaries at the end of the edited texts, were suggested. Applying these corrections and recording the meanings of the rare words and terms of these two texts can further refine the later editions of these two works.

From the eighty’s onward, after the emergence of folklore culture and literature into academic field, a change occurred in the field. Various research works in forms of book, thesis, article, etc. are written on different subjects every day. Some of the main works among these are the books that should have distinctive features in the field of folklore literature as basic works, so that they could bear the educational and research objectives of the field. One type of folklore literature book is “Generals”. By the name “Generals”, it is meant that they deal with different subjects in the field of folklore literature, and these works are generally written and published for teaching. However, they have a crucial role in the basics and general issues related to the studies in this field. Although the publication rate of these books is growing on a daily basis, no criticism has been done about them yet in order to categorize and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these works, and consequently help researchers for an informed selection of these works. Considering the significance of this issue in this article, five important books from folklore generals’ book series are selected and criticized according to their publication time from the first one in the fifties to the books of the late decade. Since these books are generally taught at universities considering the educational department's enactments in the field of folklore culture and literature, these works were criticized and compared from the aspects of form and content, succession, generality and scope, theory application, revision and scientific validity, reader-friendliness of background and principles, etc.

The story of "Rostam's death" in Shāh-nāma and Ghorar-assiar Tha'ālabi is different from all other sources. In these sources, there are four narrations of Rostam being killed by Bahman: natural death, the death of both opponents at the end of the war with Esfandiār, and being killed by “Ŝoghād/ Ŝaghād”. The source criticism of the story of Rostam and Esfandiār shows that it did not exist in Khodāy-nāma. The difference between the narrator of the story (Azād-sarv) and the narrators of Abu Mansouri's Shāhnāma and the anonymity of Ŝoghād in the sources has obscured the origin of the story. This article, considering the continuity of ancient contents in the folklore sources analyzes the role of Bahman in the murder of Rostam in narrative scrolls and epics. It also investigates an episode in Khāvarān-nāma of Khusfi (15 AD), which depicts Rostam being thrown in the camouflaged wells of Bahman. Finally, this research has proved that the killer of Rostam, in the oldest sources, was nobody other than Bahman, and in order to reduce the humiliation of being killed by a Kiani king, his guilt has been projected on the betrayal of a half-brother.

Sati, which is unlike the modern moral standards and incompatible with the standards of the Abrahamic and Zoroastrian religions, is an old Hindu custom that has been practiced for many years and seems to have been abandoned nowadays. It is an official custom related to the sanctity of fire, the glory of love, Hinduism, and the result of Indian patriarchy and xenophobia. This study has tried to explain the cause and elements of its emergence. It also attempts to investigate why and how the Indian books (the sacred and historical ones) refer to this custom and then analyze the historical texts and literature in Iran with regards to poetry.