*This is an English translation of the original catalog entry in Persian

48Parcham of the Kangarlu Hosayniyeh: Symbol of a ritual community

Iran, contemporary period Kangarlu Hosayniyeh, Kohneh Gel, Varamin Photograph by Jabbar Rahmani, 2024

A parcham (پرچم, ceremonial textile, banner, wall hanging, flag) is a symbolic piece of cloth with religious motifs and designs that represents a ritual community. In the hosayniyeh (حسینیه) and heyʾat (هیئت) of Shiʿi culture, there is always a parcham of various sizes (larger than one square meter). The hanging typically bears the name of the heyʾat, its founding date, and the sacred names of Shiʿi Emams, particularly Emam Hosayn, [his brother] Hazrat-e ʿAbbas, and the holy women revered in Shiʿi beliefs, such as Hazrat-e Fatemeh, Zeynab, and Roqayyeh. Sometimes, simple images of sacred shrines are also depicted on the parcham.

This parcham belongs to the Kangarlu (کنگرلو) tribe, the most prominent group residing in the Kohneh Gel neighborhood of Varamin near the Emamzadeh Yahya. The Kangarlu heyʾat refers to the religious and ritual community or society of the tribe, and the hosayniyeh refers to the place [the building] for holding mourning ceremonies (آیین‌های عزاداری) during the month of Moharram in the Shiʿi tradition. Historically, the Kangarlu were the custodians of the Emamzadeh Yahya, which was their most significant and central religious space. However, with the rising population of the neighborhood and growth of people’s economic status, a need emerged for additional spaces beyond the existing mosque in the neighbourhood. Given the key role of the Owqaf Organization (سازمان اوقاف, endowment organization) in overseeing and managing the emamzadeh, and the limited capacity of the tomb’s interior for holding Moharram rituals, a new hosayniyeh was constructed for religious rituals and memorial services. This hosayniyeh was established in the 1980s with the help of the community on the southern side of the emamzadeh, adjacent to the central park of the Kohneh Gel neighborhood and the local mosque (fig. 1) (this map connects the three locations).

Between the mosque, emamzadeh, and hosayniyeh, the hosayniyeh is the only space that is entirely controlled and managed by the residents of the Kohneh Gel neighborhood. Consequently, it serves as the primary gathering place for the community and observing important religious rituals, including Moharram mourning ceremonies. Key ritual symbols of the Kohneh Gel community, particularly the Kangarlu, are kept in the hosayniyeh and include parchams, ʿalamats (علامت) [ceremonial standards with multiple vertical finials, no. 49], and ʿalams (علم) [standards with a single finial]. Next to the hosayniyeh is a large kitchen used for preparing food and tea during religious events (fig. 2).

The Kangarlu heyʾat has a unique parcham in their hosayniyeh with artistic machine-made embroidery. In addition to the name of the heyʾat, the parcham is inscribed with a verse from the Qurʾan (نصر من الله و فتح غریب) and a couplet (بیت, beyt) and hemistich (مصرع, mesraʾ) from Mohtasham Kashani’s [d. 1958] poem about the tragedy of Karbala (fig. 3):

باز این چه شورش است که در خلق عالم است/ باز این چه نوحه و عزا و ماتم است
باز این چه رستخیز عظیم است/ [مصرع دوم را ندارد]

What is this tumult now among the world’s creatures? / What now is this wailing, this mourning, this lamentation? [source]
What is this mighty resurrection risen anew? / [no second hemistich]

Most of the parcham’s symbolic designs are traditional cypress trees and botteh jeqqeh (بته جقه‌, paisley).

In previous years, during the Moharram mourning rituals of the Kangarlu heyʾat, this parcham was carried at the front of the procession (دسته, dasteh) as it moved from the hosayniyeh to other religious sites of other tribes. Gradually, however, instead of being carried at the front of the heyʾat, it was placed in a glass frame and installed inside the hosayniyeh (fig. 4). The elders of the heyʾat believe that this parcham is the original first hanging made in the past, but no exact date has been recorded for it.

Today, when mourning processions set out, they are accompanied by various items in addition to a parcham (the identifier of the heyʾat), including ʿalamat, ʿalam, panjeh [protective symbol in the shape of a hand], musical instruments for eulogies (drums and loudspeakers), and generators and lighting systems. In the Kangarlu heyʾat, however, this parcham is not carried.

Parchams can exist in other forms, and sometimes serve merely as a religious symbol in religious places or rituals (fig. 5). These parchams are typically black (symbolizing the mourning of Emam Hosayn), red (symbolizing blood and martyrdom), and green (symbolizing the sacred lineage of the Emams and the Prophet of Islam). They are placed in front of mourning processions or on the walls of hosayniyehs, and even mosques and emamzadehs. Among the examples illustrated here, only one parcham—the framed example—is considered central and serves as the identification of the Kangarlu heyʾat. The other parchams do not have a distinctive feature to differentiate this heyʾat from others and can be donated as votives (نذر, nazr) or endowments (وقف, vaqf) to any other hosayniyeh or ritual place.

Jabbar Rahmani Associate Professor of Anthropology, The Institute of Cultural and Social Studies, Tehran

Citation: Jabbar Rahmani, “Parcham of the Kangarlu Hosayniyeh: Symbol of a ritual community,” translated by Hoda Nedaeifar. Catalog entry in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine, directed and edited by Keelan Overton. 33 Arches Productions, January 15, 2025. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online.