The carpet-washing ceremony

The carpet-washing ceremony is one of the most important traditional ceremonies in Iran, which is also registered in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Kashan carpet weaver’s ceremony

On the second Friday of October, you have probably heard many times from people, television, other media and other news sources about the carpet washing ceremony, a ceremony in which a crowd of more than five hundred thousand people from different cities, Kashan and the surrounding area to attend the ceremony They have come to watch on TV. You may be wondering what this ceremony is and why it is held. Why do people beat their heads and chests with sticks in their hands and perform one of the most beautiful traditional human religious ceremonies for 1300 years? From a few days before the ceremony, these people enthusiastically gather in a village called Mashhad Ardehal to perform the symbolic ceremony known as the carpet-washing ceremony in the best possible way.
The village of Mashhad Ardehal, which is located 42 km west of Kashan, is considered a safe divine land, as it is introduced in narrations and books. In the opinion of Kashan peoples and the surrounding cities, there is a special opinion about this region.

Carpet washing ceremony in Mashhad Ardehal

On the first Friday of October, exactly one week before the carpet-washing ceremony, broomers in all major neighborhoods of Kashan, especially in the Great Finn area, as well as in Kashan Bazaar, called people to prepare for the second Friday of October.
Let’s go back to my childhood. Kashani families always prepared themselves a few days before the ceremony so that they could perform and participate in the carpet washing ceremony. They prepared the necessary equipment for a stay of two or three days in the village of Mashhad Ardehal and sometimes there was a room or a house. They rented, and some chose to stay in tents to attend the ceremony.

Carpet cleaners in Mashhad Ardehal

Ardehal is located on the Kashan-Naraq road, a route where the cities of Niasar and Nashlaj are located and have beautiful nature and sights. The people of Ardehal live in this mountainous land with carpet weaving and agriculture. Two Imamzadehs named Imamzadeh Sultan Ali and Prince Hassan nearby have rested in this village, people consider Hazrat Sultan Ali as an obligatory shrine.

The beginning of the story

The Finns of Kashan during the reign of Imam Muhammad Baqir sent a messenger named Amer ibn Nasser al-Finni to him and asked him to assume their leadership. Imam sent his son named Sultan Ali, brother of Imam Sadegh, to Kashan, who also settled in the Great Fin region. Since Kashan was considered a warm city, Hazrat Sultan Ali used to go to the mountainous region of Ardehal in summers. A few years after the residence of the Imam’s son in Ardehal, the ruler of Ardehal named Zarrin Kafsh Barkarsfi decided to assassinate him by the order of the governor of Qom named Arzeq. The attack took place in Aznaveh, a ten-day war in which the forces of the Imam’s son destroyed many of the ruling forces of Ardehal. Here a plan came to the mind of the golden shoe of Barkersfi shoes, according to which forty women and girls of Kaljari went to the battlefield naked. For this reason, the Imam’s son retreated and began to pray under the protection of a stone. At the same time, the enemies attack them and martyr everyone. When the people of Kashan and the great Finn heard the news of the martyrdom of the Imam’s son, they attacked the enemies with sticks and sticks and destroyed them all. After that, Imam Ali Sultan Ali is wrapped in a rug and bathed in a stream near the side of Prince Hussein. His funeral was held while people were beating their heads and holding sticks and clubs. Since then, every year, the people of Kashan and its surroundings go to Ardehal on the second Friday of October, on the anniversary of the martyrdom of the Imam’s son, and perform a glorious ceremony called the carpet-washing ceremony. The ceremony is now inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

In this ceremony, which is held every year, the elders of the Finn receive a blessed carpet in the shrine of Imamzadeh from the elders of Khaveh village (one of the surrounding villages). The carpet is moved with indescribable enthusiasm from the courtyard of Safa to the historical creek of Prince Hussein, until the Finns sprinkle the water of the creek on the carpet with a stick and then bring the carpet to the courtyard of the Finns with another passion. It becomes. The rug is then returned to the elders and they keep the rug in a container until the following year.

Ten days before the carpet-washing ceremony, Kashan blacksmiths closed the bazaar and sprinkled water on each other and everyone passing by, after which they went to Cheshmeh Soleimaneh Fin during a ceremony and then left for the village of Mashhad Ardehal to hold the carpet-washing ceremony.

The most important thing about the carpet-washing ceremony in Mashhad is that it is a popular ceremony and people hold it. If this ceremony is manipulated, its structure will change and disappear. The number of shrines in Iran is high, but the shrine of Sultan Ali is increasingly important because every human being can see himself in it. How can we not accept the words of thousands of old men and women of Ardahali in this ceremony and resort to research excuses?

The answer is clear, people need to have a spiritual connection to the source of light, so they invite the Imamzadeh to come to Finn. Imam Mohammad Baqir (AS) also sent his son there, the rulers of the time also martyred him, but in fact they brought him to immortality.
In the carpet-washing ceremony, people do not actually wash the carpet, but purify the earth. By holding this ceremony, they want to say that the Imam’s son came to this city at our invitation, but was martyred by others. By holding this ceremony, they actually want to free hypocrisy and lies and remove his shame from the earth. During the ceremony, twelve woodcutters gather in Prince Hussein’s courtyard and sing religious poems while waving their sticks in the air. Afterwards, the Finns gather in the courtyard of Safa, waving their sticks in the air, and chant Hussein Hussein. When the number of people increases, the board of trustees first reports to the people about the construction and repairs. After that, programs known as dictionaries and lamentations begin, followed by a carpet-washing ceremony. But what is the meaning of dictionary? In this ceremony, several people who were involved in the martyrdom of Sultan Ali Imamzadeh are cursed and cursed, one of them is the ruler of Ardahal era, who is also known as Cheragh Koosh Karameh. He, who was responsible for the martyrdom of the Imam’s son, fled after killing the Imam and took refuge in a village. In this village, he went to an old woman’s house and turned off the lights in her house and hid in the oven of the old woman’s house. After a while, the villagers find the golden shoe (ruler of Ardehal) and punish him for his actions.

The second person to be cursed and cursed is called Ghokleh Jari, who was considered one of the government officials of Ardehal and under the Golden Rule of Shoes, he committed many atrocities against the people. According to some narrations, he was the one who stripped several of his men naked while Imamzadeh Sultan Ali was winning, which caused the Imam’s followers to turn away from them and eventually be martyred by the Golden Shoes.