PIR SHALYAR CEREMONY IN URAMAN TAKHT, IRAN
January 30, 2020
Each winter, an ancient ceremony called Pir Shalyar takes place in Hawraman Takht, an isolated Kurdish town in the Zagros Mountains. Starting on the 40th day of winter, the festival’s different stages take place over three days during three consecutive weeks after the 15th of the Kurdish month of Rebandan which is usually in early February. This centuries-old ceremony is marking the wedding of Pir Shalyar, a local Sufi mystic and spiritual leader. According to the legend, the blind daughter of the King of Bukhara named Shah Bahar Khatun traveled with a convoy to Hawraman, where she regained her eyesight thanks to Pir Shalyar’s divine healing powers. To express her gratitude, she decided to marry Pir Shalyar, sending the entire village into several days of jubilation and a festive mood. Along with and customs and symbols inherent to Islam and Sufism in particular, traces of ancient pre-Islamic religions such as Mithraism and Zoroastrianism are also present in the complex set of rituals of the ceremony which lasts three days. The hectic days of the festival involve a strict order, in which every step is closely taken and labor is divided among all locals. The wedding festival gathers pace with the sacrifice of cows and sheep on the same morning. Part of the meat is handed to all families who in return offer a dish of ingredients to contribute to a collective meal cooked for everyone in the form of a stew that includes pomegranates and mountain vegetables. To mark the importance of equality, all villagers have the same share from the same food regardless of the class they hail from. The meal is followed by a collective Dhikr, performed by local long-haired Qadiri dervishes. Later, they gather in the house that is believed to be a home of Pir Shalyar for an overnight vigil of poetry reciting.
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SWIMMING FOR THE HOLY CROSS
January 19, 2020
Orthodox Christians in Serbia celebrate the Epiphany on January 19, when the traditional swimming for the Holy Cross takes place in different locations across the country. This custom, which not practiced during the communism saw revival in late 1990s and became particularly popular in early 2000s. Since then, swimming for the Holy Cross is being regularly organized all over Serbia the Republic of Srpska and Montenegro. This tradition has become a national festival all over Serbia, especially where there are suitable bodies of water nearby. Rivers, lakes, weirs and artificial reservoirs gather large numbers of cheerful and joyful people on this day. In Belgrade, swimming for the Holy Cross is organized in several places at the same time, usually in Zemun, Čukarica and Surčin municipalities. On the Epiphany day, after the Great Blessing of the Waters in the Church, the faithful head towards the rivers or lake in a form of procession led by a priest. Daring swimmers, both young and old take their spot on pier waiting to dive into the cold waters in search of a holy cross thrown in by the local priest. The one who finds the treasured cross first emerges from the waters is proud, knowing that he or she will have the grace of God in the coming year. Being the first swimmer who retrieved the wooden cross from the icy waters of the Danube, the winner of the event that took place at Zemun pier this year was 15 year old Jovan Stojiljkovic.
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RALLY OF THE SUPPORTERS OF THE RULING SERBIAN PROGRESSIVE PARTY
April 20, 2019
A rally titled “The Future of Serbia” in support of the President Aleksandar Vucic organized by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party was held in central Belgrade on Friday, April 19 2019. Participants were gathered and brought to the capital by hundreds of buses all over Serbia and even from Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to the pro-government media, the protest was one of the biggest in the history of Belgrade, featuring more than 150,000 participants. The selection of photos was published on Pescanik website.
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SULTANI NEVRUZ CELEBRATED AMONG SUFI BROTHERHOODS IN KOSOVO AND NORTH MACEDONIA
March 25, 2019
Sultani Nevruz is a religious ceremony which is observed each year in the days around the spring equinox among Sufi communities in Kosovo and North Macedonia. Literally meaning “New Day” in Persian, it has a special significance for the members of Rufai and Saadi Sufi brotherhoods who consider the day to be both the birthday of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and the day when he became the caliph. Dhikr, a central devotional act inherent to Sufism is performed as an integral part of Sultani Nevruz celebrations. This ritual often includes extreme acts in which dervishes pierce their cheeks and throats with needles and swords reaching a state of trance. It is a highly theatrical performance, a demonstration of the true faith, which takes place in the presence of a huge and excited audience. Selected pictures were taken in tekkes located in Prizren, Orahovac and Skopje.
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KIRKPINAR IN EDIRNE, TURKEY
July 17, 2018
Kirkpinar is officially recognized as the oldest continuously running sporting competition in the world. The competition starts with prayers at the Edirne cemetery, where some of Turkey’s most famous wrestlers are buried. The wrestlers fight in relays with as many as 20 individual contests going on in the square arena at one time. Before each bout, competitors douse themselves and their opponents with olive oil from huge metal cauldrons hanging in the wrestlers’ compound. Getting a firm hold on a slippery opponent and maintaining it long enough to twist him on his back require both strength and speed. The origins of Turkish oil wrestling are found in the early days of the Ottoman Empire. During the long military campaigns soldiers of the Sultan organized friendly matches and smeared themselves with olive oil. It is believed that the first oil wrestling tournament was held in 1346 at the Kirkpinar Meadow in today’s Greece. In the beginning of the 20th century, when the historical Kirkpinar Meadow was ceded to Greece as a result of the Balkan Wars, the tournament moved to the present location just outside the town of Edirne in East Thrace, Turkey.
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