Pir Shalyar

The festival of Pir Shalyar (also spelled Shaliyar) is a traditional Kurdish festival that has ancient roots. It is held on the 40th day of winter in Hawraman Takht, a village in the foothills of the Zagros Mountains of the Kurdistan province in western Iran. 

The Underlying Story 

In ancient times, the king of ancient Bukhara (in today’s Uzbekistan) had a beautiful daughter, named Shah Bahar Khatoon, who was a deaf-mute. The king wished to cure the her condition and announced that whoever healed her would have her for his wife. But for a long time the search for a healer was in vain.

Far away, in Hawraman, a village in the mountains of Kurdistan, lived a wise old man called Pir Shalyar, who may have been a Zoroastrian priest. The king of Bukhara heard of his existence and sent his daughter to Hawraman, escorted by relatives, to see if he could cure her.

At that time, it so happened, Hawraman was plagued by a demon on a cliff. As the princess’s convoy entered the town, the travelers could hear its terrifying roar. Then, as the convoy neared the home of Pir Shalyar, the demon suddenly fell from the cliff. It died at the Pir’s door.  At that moment, Shah Bahar Khatoon was able to speak.

Everyone regarded it as a miracle, wrought by Pir Shalyar.  Pir Shalyar and Shah Bahar Khatoon married in a ceremony that lasted several days, as the people of Hawraman celebrated. The surviving festival commemorates their wedding.

The Festival

 The annual festival, also called Pir Sharyar, takes place in early February, in three phases. In the first phase, the village children collect walnuts from Pir Shalyar’s garden and take them from door to door, giving them to the families to announce the coming celebration. The people in the houses give them sweets and treats in return. On this same day, brothers visit sisters, and nephews visit aunts, bringing them walnuts and sweets as gifts.

On a certain Wednesday morning before sunrise, sheep, goats, and cattle are brought to the door of Pir Shalyar’s house (which still stands). At sunrise they are sacrificed. During the day, their meat is used to make a large traditional soup, called Ash, following a 950-year-old recipe.

While some villagers prepare the soup, other villagers participate in a ritualistic dance, hand in hand, to a mystical rhythm. Musicians play the Daf, a large frame drum. Children watch from the rooftops as houng and old dervishes sway to the rhythm of the daf, a traditional frame drum, their long hair flying in the freezing air of the midwinter. This ceremony continues into the evening.

During the festival, each family has an assigned task. Some cook the soup, others play Daf, and others perform the dance ritual. These roles have continued for centuries, inherited from ancestors.

Friday is the day of prayers. The villagers gather in Pir Shalyar’s large house, each family in its designated seat. They listen to stories and poetry recitations. They respectfully handing Pir Shalyar’s book, prayer beads, and kalash, or handmade shoe, as sacred objects. This continues until late Friday evening.

Three weeks later the women of each household bake disk-shaped loaves of golden walnut-filled bread called gete, symbolizing the sun. Villagers, singing poems and playing the daf, carry the loaves to the tomb of Pir Shalyar, where they consume the bread with yogurt. They tie pieces of colored fabric called dakhil to trees in the graveyard in the hope that Pir Shalyar will make their wishes come true.

According to legend, a farmer once asked Pir Shalyar to bless his harvest and livelihood, while offering stuffed grape leaves known as dolma. Pir Shalyar told him to hit two stones together, and the pieces would be consecrated. That is the rationale for Komsai or Kumsa, the last stage of Pir Shalyar, which takes place in early May. Villagers again visit the tomb of Pir Shalyar, where there is a large stone. They chip pieces away, believing that they can heal, and that the stone will grow back before the next year. Then they partake of dolma at the tomb.

It is believed this festival has been observed for more than 900 years in Hawraman Takht.

 Zoroastrian Roots

The Pir Shalyar festival has Zoroastrian roots, starting with the town’s full name, Hawraman Takht. Hawraman comes from hawra, meaning “Ahura,” and maan, meaning “home” or “land.” So Hawraman is the land of Ahura Mazda, the creator. The suffix takht means a “center of governance.”

 Pir is the word for a Zoroastrian priest, and shal is a long shawl that is wrapped three times around waist representing good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. The shal is still part of Kurdish men’s attire.

The villagers treat the sacred objects of Pir the way sacred things are respected in Zoroastrianism, not to be shown or given to strangers.

But other aspects of the festival suggest Islamic roots: the sacrifice of animals; the prayer and chants; and the style of burial of Pir Shalyar.

Overall, the festival of Pir Shalyar represents the long history of Kurdistan and has become a symbol of local Kurds’ cultural identity. The collaboration and fellowship of the villagers reinforces the unity and brotherhood of all Kurdish people of the region.

You can see videos of the Pir Shalyar festival here and here.

Sources

“Pir Shalyar, An Ancient Ceremony Still Alive in the Mountains of Kurdistan,” SurfIran, n.d.

Maryam Mobarhani, “Pir Shalyar, a Mythical Wedding Represents Blessing,” TasteIran, February 17, 2020.

Photos by Aryan Nasrollahi, Mehr News Agency, via Wikimedia Commons. 

Article updated on February 2, 2024, to remove the identification of the daf as a Persian instrument.