نشریه فرهنگ و ادبیات عامه
پیاپی 45 (امرداد و شهریور 1401)

Myths have a special place in preserving the ancient culture and customs of Iran. One of the most important myths common among the native residents of Boyer Ahmad and Dana cities is the myth of the journey of Khosrow, the King of Iran, to Mount Dana, located near the city of Siskhet. The current research is based on the historical-analytical and comparative method, which is based on library studies, documentation and archeology. Considering that the legend of Khosrow's journey can be clearly seen and heard not only in the stories and minds of the people of Boyer Ahmad and Dana, but also in the geographical areas and the names of its places, it is considered one of the major myths. It turns out that not only its substantive affinity can be found in the myths of other nations, but it can also be studied in historical books, especially Ferdowsi's Shahnameh; for this reason, it seems necessary to study the mentioned myth. Therefore, locating the geographical names of the myth of Khosrow was done to answer the following main questions: What are the most important reliable written sources that refer to the myth of the journey of Khosrow to Mount Dana? To what extent can we rely on archaeological evidence about the myth of Khosrow's trip to Mount Dana? In addition to Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, in the first-hand historical sources written by Islamic historians in the third and fourth centuries of Hijri, including Ibn Athir, Hamdallah Mostofi, Hamza Esfahani, and Gardizi, the myth of Khosrow is mentioned from the perspective of a historical event. One of the most important archaeological documents and evidences related to the legend of Khosrow is Tel Khosrow near Yasouj, which was explored by the Austrian archaeologist Hanis Gaube.

Every country’s folktales are powerful sources which reflect its social structures. In Iranian folktales, marriage is an essential motif, and in these marriages, there are significant sociological information. During his studies about structures of native societies, Claude Levi-Strauss, the father of structural anthropology, discovered that establishing social relations between small societies leads to formation of large communities, and these social relations comply with specific rules. One of these rules are the rules of exchange which as it happens have a great presence in marriage. In this essay, we aimed to find the hidden exchange relations in marriage and show the different types and aspects of exchanging in them by focusing on marriage in Iranian folktales. For this purpose, referring to a number of sources of folktales, including Sobhi Mohtadi, Samad Behrangi, Anjavi Shirazi and Mashdi Galin's folktales, we investigated more than a hundred folktales which included marriage. The results of this essay revealed that multiple exchange patterns lead to marriages and women in these folktales are being exchanged for different sort of material items and non-material affairs. Exchange of women in Iranian folktales mostly takes place in exchange of wealth, health, freedom, protection, knowledge, education, etc., and demonstrates that the exchanging rules of marriage are common and accepted matter in the minds and souls of narrators of these folktales

In Boyer-Ahmad's epic hymns, in addition to praising ethnic heroes, heroic role models, their weapons of war, the hero's boasting, etc. are mentioned in an epic manner. In this research, we studied and analyzed the image of Boyer-Ahmad's ethnic heroes in Boyer-Ahmad's epic hymns. We also intended to analyze the background of some epic themes and their mythical aspects. This research is essentially based on field libraries and qualitative content analysis method. After reviewing and analyzing Boyer-Ahmad's epic hymns, it can be said that Boyer-Ahmad's people praised their ethnic heroes, including Ki Lohrasb, Mir Gholam Shah Ghasemi, Abdullah Khan Zarghampour, Khan Qazi, etc., in order to maintain the spirit of war and heroism, that have shown their bravery in battles. In folk hymns more to boast, heroes' weapons and heroic role models, and in mourning Boyer-Ahmad's odes, battles, female characters, and mourning for them are described, which have similar examples to the Shahnameh.

Proverbs are one of the leading cultural elements in societies that can support intellectual and cultural currents. The practical charm, as well as the accumulation of meaning and the broad and comprehensive meanings in proverbs, make their influence. However, the inspiration uniqueness and the audience's intellectual struggle toward them is not investigated yet. "You don't want to be shamed, be the same color as the group" is a proverb that can be criticized and interpreted in sociological, economic, historical, etc. perspectives. Contrastive structure, musical language, as well as the overt and hidden actions such as condition, command, warning, and threat in deep structure have made this proverb effective and popular. According to the deconstruction approach and the focus of this theory on reversing reciprocal pairs, a different reading of this proverb can be achieved, a reading that highlights and glorifies "individualism", creativity and the resulting talent in opposition to "collectivism" by shifting the authority and centrality of the structural dual poles. In this article, an attempt is made to provide a different and more modern reading of this proverb by applying deconstruction theory as well as qualitative and pathological analysis. The need to change the structure and context of this proverb shows the mobility and cultural dynamics of our society today.

Wrestling has been one of the oldest martial arts/sports activities that dates back (with conjecture) to the earliest days of human existence on earth. Wrestling has a long history and importance, not only among the ancient Iranians, but also among many ancient nations. Although wrestling is our national sport, and the oldest Iranian archeological documents in this field date back to about three thousand years ago, surprisingly, no serious study could be found about the ritual, terms and techniques of such an activity from antiquity to the late Qajar period, apart from parts of a few treatise, as well as a few poems (all related to the Teymuri period onwards), in none of the historical, epic and folk works - even heroic poems such as Shahnameh, Garshasb-nameh, Bahman-nameh, etc. Narrative Scrolls and late heroic poems are sources that partially answer this shortcoming and provide valuable information about the rules, terms, traditions, and techniques of wrestling. Since these valuable resources have not yet been considered by scholars of ancient sports, the author intends to focus on this concern.

Totem is one of the characteristics of primitive societies. Balochi have preserved many of their old customs and beliefs. Signs of belief in some totems can be seen even now in Balochi popular culture and literature. One of the prominent Balochi totems is the "krait". This snake with the scientific name of "Bungarus" is one of the poisonous and dangerous species of cobra in the Balochistan region and there are many legends and stories about it. The krait and its symbols in Balochi culture and literature are remnants of ancient totemic beliefs. In the present research, borrowing the descriptive-analytical method and the psychoanalytical theories of Freud and Lacan, we show how krait has become one of the important totems of the Baloch and how it has continued to be a totem in Baloch literature and public culture until now. The results of this research showed that krait is one of the types of psychological totems and has deep connections with desire, male and female sexual ideas, reproduction, fear, anxiety, loss, jouissance, phallus, and gestation. the position of the krait totem in popular culture and Balochi literature, above all, is the representation and movement of signs of sexuality and gestation in the field of social life.