Kashan Culture, the Ultimate Kashan Travel Guide
From traditional hand-weaving of carpets to more down-to-earth personality quirks of Kashani people, to the stories parents would tell their children before they go to sleep, Kashanis’ cultural richness is one of their greatest assets. Whether it’s their religious life, or their agricultural life, or simply the way they talk to each other, Kashanis are sure to add their unique quicks as a spice to everything they do.
Religion
Kashani Culture is intertwined with religion. The population mostly follows Shia Islam and mosques pop out everywhere. Walking through Kashan, Muslim call of worship, or Azaan, comes out here and there in the city center around noon and the evening calling the pious to prayer. Kashani people take Muharram (a religious month in which Shia Muslims mourn their Martyred Imam Hossein) seriously. In every neighborhood, there exists a ceremony of religious rituals during Muharram, where locals gather to mourn the events of Karbala. At the end of each ritual, Nazri (food dedicated to a holy Imam) is given out. Even people from other cities of Iran travel to Kashan to attend these ceremonies since there are so many things to do in Kashan during Muharram.
It might be interesting to know that there used ere used to be a small Jewish community in Kashan who left for the United States and other countries in the past 30 years. They spoke Hebrew with a Kashani accent. Pretty peculiar, isn’t it? Nowadays, however, no sign of this community exists in Kashan.
Art and architecture in Kashan
Houses in Kashan showcase the people’s love for art and architecture. Kashan is home to Iran’s best traditional houses, all located very close to each other. With each room having a philosophy of its own, these houses turn all eyes to their side. Built by wealthy merchants, nearly all of these traditional houses have an andaruni (the inside of the house where the family members live) and a biruni (the outside of the house where merchants welcomed guests and conducted business). One of the reasons for this separation is that the householder wanted to provide more privacy for his family. A guest or a businessman, anyone who isn’t the part of the family, is a stranger. And this andaruni creates concealment. It is a form of Hijab, don’t you think?
An important architectural element of these wonders is concealing. An example is that from the outside, these houses look like any other house. But when you go down the entrance stairs and explore the beauties of the house, it will reveal its charms. This is also the case not only of the exterior architecture but also the interior design. Each room has a sort of concealment of their own.
The alleyways around the bazaar and the historical part of Kashan are also beautiful. These small and narrow alleyways may remind you of a never-ending maze. There is a myriad of things to do in Kashan’s alleyways. Similar to UNESCO-registered Yazd, the historical part of Kashan deserves a fair amount of time to explore and look for charms and beauties in the everyday lives of Kashani people.
Kashan’s traditional clothes
Abyaneh residents, a world-known village with houses made from red-clay, have held on to their conventional clothes. Abyaneh is a popular day-trip destination. When you walk in the village, you can see women wearing colorful chadors (compared to the typical black ones) with rose designs on them, and long black skirts.
Kashani food: Goosht Lubia
Kashani families love to gather around for a nice meal at the weekend. Usually held at the parents’ house, or grandparents’, these gathering hold the essence of Kashani culture. They are usually held around a meal, either lunch or dinner.
For meat lovers, Kashan has loads to offer. Among all meals, Gusht Lubia stands out. Some consider it similar to Ab Gusht (another famous Iranian traditional stew with meat), Gusht Lubia is Kashani’s specialty. It consists of lamb with kidney-bean stew. Gusht Lubia is usually served with Shevid Polo, which is rice with lima beans and dill. You can try this food at one of the traditional restaurants close to the traditional houses of Kashan. Or even better, you might be invited to a Kashani’s household and eat Gusht Lubia first-hand from a Kashani mom, who is, by far, some of the best chefs in the world in cooking this dish.
Festivals of Kashan
Rosewater festival
Prepare yourself with a plethora of festivals and things to do in Kashan. With the coming of the spring, Kashan and its nearby villages, like Ghamsar and Barzok, prepare for an extraordinary traditional ceremony. From May to Mid-June, the Rosewater Festival is one of the must-dos of Kashan. Many from different parts of Iran travel to Kashan and participate in rose-picking farms and rosewater workshops of Kashan. But these are not simple ceremonies for the local residents; it’s their way of life. It’s their work. During the rose-picking season, from morning till late in the afternoon, everybody is busy doing some part of the job. In the morning, roses are hand-picked and then brought to distillation workshops until late afternoon.
Ashura festival
Kashan is a wholly religious city. During Muharram, the whole city turns into a new atmosphere. As you walk the streets of Kashan during Muharram, you see black flags rise everywhere, mourning the events happened in Karbala, more than 1000 years ago to Imam Hussein and his family. You may run into a mourning ceremony in one of the steers of Kashan. Feel free to go in; they are open to the public. Or, if it’s the end of the ceremony, you might just be handed free food (Nazri). You might run into another group of people who are chest-beating in the street. This is what Muharram is like in Kashan.
Do you want to travel back in time and see what happened to Imam Hussein first-hand? Travel to Nushabad on the Tenth of Muharram and watch a traditional form of mourning called Ta’azieh. In this ceremony, the citizens of the Nushabad gather in the city center to perform a passion play and re-act the events of Karbala. Ta’azieh takes about half a day, from morning till afternoon.
The carpet washing festival (Ghali Shuyan)
Held in Mashhad Ardahal, a small village located 40 KM, west of Kashan, the Carpet Washing ceremony is fascinating to watch. Another religious mourning for a martyred Imam, Carpet Washing is registered on Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity list by UNESCO and is held annually at the end of September. As a Kashani, you would start a trip from Kashan to Ardahal, in a large group of like-minded people. Wearing black and holding large stick, you gather in the Holy Shrine’s yard to mourn the tragic death of the Imam.
Originally published at https://iranamaze.com.
