Friday, March 5, 2010

Persian Lady in Abyaneh

With a unique reddish hue, the village is one of the oldest in Iran, attracting numerous native and foreign tourists year-round, especially during traditional feasts and ceremonies.

Abyaneh has been called an entrance to Iranian history. The local clothing, for example, is in a style of great antiquity. An Abyunaki woman typically wears a white long scarf (covering the shoulders and upper trunk) which has a colourful pattern and an under-knee skirt. Even the most immediate villages' women have different dress style so that one could tell if she is from Abyaneh or not. They have persistently maintained this traditional costume despite pressures from time to time by the government trying to change it.
Abyaneh also resisted conversion to Islam throughout the ages, and stayed Zoroastrian until it was forced to convert to Shi'ite Islam in the time of the Saffavid Shahs, as were many other villages and towns that had held onto the Zoroastrian religion until then.
On top of the village sits the ruins of a Sassanid era fort.
Since June 2005, the village has been undergoing archaeological excavations for the first time ever, as a result of an agreement between Abyaneh Research Center and the Archaeology Research Center of the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO).
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyaneh

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