Qālišuyān rituals of Mashad-e Ardehāl in Kashan.

Posted in 2012 in the UNESCO list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Qālišuyān rituals are practiced in Iran to honor the memory of Soltān Ali, a sacred figure between the people of Kāšān and Fin. According to legend, he was martyred and his body found and transported on a carpet to a stream, where he was washed and buried by the people of Fin and Xāve. Today, the Soltān Ali mausoleum is the site of a ritual where a carpet is washed in the sacred stream by a large gathering. It takes place from the Friday closest to the seventeenth day of the month of Mehr, according to the solar-agricultural calendar. In the morning, the people of Xve gather at the mausoleum to spread rose water on the carpet. After completing the wrapping rituals, they deliver it to the people of Fin Out, who rinse the carpet in running water and sprinkle the drops of rose water with well-cut and beautifully decorated wooden sticks. The carpet is then returned to the mausoleum. The people of Kāšān contribute a prayer carpet and the people of Našalg celebrate their ritual on the following Friday. These communities maintain the oral transmission of the procedures, but recreate the tradition by adding new and festive elements.

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