Ramadan tradition of saharkhani on the wane
Although some customs and traditions slide into oblivion after a period of time, efforts are required to preserve and pass them down to future generations. One ritual tied to the religious beliefs of Iranian people is saharkhani. Although practiced very little, it is still alive.
In the modern era, people rely on the alarm features on their mobile phones and the tradition of saharkhani is getting disappeared. However, some areas continue to hold this religious tradition. Among these areas are the mountainous parts of Mazandaran and Gilan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Kashan, Khorasan and many other Iranian cities and provinces.
Saharkhani is the common ritual of welcoming the holy month of Ramadan and is held in various forms and names throughout Iranian cities.
During the month of Ramadan, almost one hour before the morning call to prayer, a sweet-voiced person called saharkhan performs special poems and supplications on the rooftops and through the interwoven alleys of cities, inviting people to be prepared for the pre-dawn meal before fasting. Sometimes in local areas, they knock on doors to wake people up for doing their pre-fasting ceremonies.
In various Iranian cities, saharkhani is accompanied by playing a musical instrument such as dotar. In Kurdestan and Kermanshah provinces, the tradition is performed with playing tanbur (long-necked string instrument) or daf (frame drum). In some other areas, only instruments are played and no one sings; this tradition is called saharinavazi. Wind instruments such as the bugle and sorna (an ancient Iranian woodwind instrument) are used to this end. In some other areas, negharezani (playing the timpani) was highly popular, said the Islamic arts and music researcher, Mojtaba Qeytaqi.
The tradition of saharkhani is commonly accompanied with praying as well as singing religious and mystic couplets and quatrains.
Houshang Javid, a researcher on religious music, said that in the past, in some regions of Iran where religious beliefs were stronger, people considered waking people up at dawn as meritorious.
The roots of saharkhani go back to the pre-Islamic era, when it was practiced at the court. The king was the first person to wake up and sung to wake the servants up, while keeping his own prestige. After the advent of Islam, this court custom became popular because of the month of Ramadan and was used to wake the people up to prepare for a fasting day.
The songs for saharkhani were not rhymed in the beginning, Javid said, adding that the phrases like “God is the greatest,” “There is no deity but God” were used. From the second century of hijra (journey of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina), poets began to write poetry for saharkhani.
Several Iranian poets including Rumi, Hafez, Khaqani and Nizami have written poems which could be read for performing the religious tradition of saharkhani.