Art
marzieh jafarpour; zohreh tabatabaiie jebeli
Abstract
What we call death in our dictionary, and which we often refer to bitterly, in the eyes of agriculturists was a connection of the deceased with the earth and the expectation of resurrection; Like a seed buried in the soil in the hope of rebirth. The remaining written and visual pieces of evidence of ...
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What we call death in our dictionary, and which we often refer to bitterly, in the eyes of agriculturists was a connection of the deceased with the earth and the expectation of resurrection; Like a seed buried in the soil in the hope of rebirth. The remaining written and visual pieces of evidence of mourning rituals indicate that women played a more critical role in this way; as they played an important role in planting and harvesting agricultural products. Therefore, the present article, with the aim of explaining the role of women in mourning rituals and its relationship with agricultural rituals, seeks to answer these questions: Why the operatives of mourning rituals are primarily women? And is there any connection between these rituals (mourning and request for fertility from nature)? In this regard, this paper will analyze eight Persian paintings with the theme of mourning from the Ilkhanid to the Safavid period in a historical-analytical way using the iconographic approach. The results show that mourning rituals were inherently used to activate the forces of plants that are often embodied as plant gods/goddesses. During a transformation, this pattern has changed from a form of mourning for the goddess of fertility to mourning for the general public. The presence of women in the mourning rituals was also considered blessed and auspicious because of their liaison with mother-earth. Thus, based on the symmetry of mourning and agriculture, the presence of women in mourning and the performance of various rituals by them is justified.
