Iranian Families Adopt New Mourning Rituals, Utilizing Dance and Folk Music to Defy State Narratives
Following a massacre in January, Iranian families have significantly altered traditional mourning practices for their deceased. Instead of adhering to state-imposed religious rituals, such as Quranic recitations and lamentations, families are now incorporating wedding music, folk dances, and verses from the Shahnameh. They have also introduced a new term, 'javid-nam,' meaning 'whose name will endure,' to refer to their dead, replacing the state's term 'shahid' (martyr). This shift represents a deliberate creation of a rival ritual language, consciously cleansed of the religious symbolism promoted by the state. This new form of mourning is seen as an act of authorship, where genuine grief is channeled into constructing a sincere ritual language that stands in opposition to official narratives. The adoption of dance, which is effectively illegal and frowned upon in Iran, further underscores this defiance, with hundreds of videos circulating of individuals openly dancing, including veiled women from conservat... 
