INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
TEHRAN - Tribespeople from 15 Iranian provinces have come together in Yasuj to showcase their arts, handicrafts, and souvenirs
and folklore, local dishes, and handicrafts within 15 Siah-Chadors (giant black tents), which have been pitched in the foreground, the
official said.The five-day exhibition will be running through July 14, he noted.In modern Iran, there are still arduous paths, flattened by
the feet of nomads and the hooves of their livestock in the ever-repeating movement of migration for millennia.The ancient country has a
culturally-diverse society dominated by a wide range of interethnic relations
Native speakers of Persian (Farsi language) are considered as the predominant ethnic generally of mixed ancestry, and the country has
important Turkic, Kurd, and Arab elements in addition to the Lurs, Baloch, Bakhtiari, and other smaller minorities such as Armenians,
Assyrians, and Jews.Experts say that ethnic tourism provides the ground for potential sightseers to feel like indigenous people by living
with a nomad or rural family or enjoying an independent stay
way of life for nomads because herding cattle is their main source of income
In spring they with all their belongings head for the cooler pastures usually on mountain hillsides where the grass is abundant for their
flocks of sheep and goats
And in autumn they return to previous tropic plains as their well-fed livestock get stronger to bear the winter.Staying with nomads during
their migration, even for a day or two, might be a lifetime experience
As a traveler, one has the chance to visit, live, eat, and sleep in a nomadic camp with a real nomad family
Colorful dresses, vast black tents, colored-eyed children with rosy cheeks, modest lifestyle, scenic landscape, and local dishes are
probably among the delights of such visits.Language, music, indigenous cuisine, clothing, songs, anecdotes, crafts, live performances, and
local rituals such as celebrations and wedding ceremonies have always spurred many to experience life among the tribes.The majority of the
Iranian nomads use mobile internet, cell phones, etc as they still set up their tents on the flanks of the snow-capped mountains
And these days cars and rented trucks, rather than domestic animals, bring them, and their flocks to pastures high up on the highlands and
vice versa.Usually, nomads surprise visitors with the dignity in their rough and overworked hands and integrity in their compassionate eyes
In popular Iranian culture, literature, and public opinion, nomads have always been a proud part of the nation.AFM
