İran Azerbaycan'ında Muharrem Törenleri ve Mersiye Kültürü

Abstract

The discourse of Karbala has long been the foundation of the political and social life of the Azerbaijani Muslim people in Azerbaijan. İn this research, when we refer to religion, we mean its cultural dimension, which corresponds to the concept of “Folk Religion”. The rituals associated with Folk Religion were initially not part of the rituals of the 'Official Religion', but they developed within specific historical and social conditions and sometimes gained greater significance within the religious ritual system. The reason for this choice stems from the roles and functions they hold within society. In the study, the Muharram ritual ceremonies are examined within the framework of Malinowski's "functional theory" in terms of their form, structure, content, as well as their formation and functional characteristics. In this theory, referred to as Malinowski's concept of "Institution," people come together and organize themselves in order to achieve desired outcomes and goals. By participating in these rituals and ceremonies, individuals are considered members of a group that provides guidance and support to them in specific situations. Thus, individuals join "communities" in order to find "collective identity". Mersiye literature, which is the response to elegy in classical literature, plays a fundamental role in shaping Shia thoughts and acquiring an artistic dimension, as well as organizing Muharram ceremonies and intensifying their emotional impact. Because people express all their emotions, allegiances, and enthusiasms in the form of passionate poetry, while also organizing themselves as a collective institution through physical movements and collective activities. Therefore, Mersiye literature and the mourning ceremonies of the month of Muharram are mutually inseparable and complementary in their connection.