Mourning Rituals and Collective Conscience in the Iranian Shiism
Document Type : scientific
Authors
Abstract
In the field of religious social studies in Iran, they have done little about the mechanism of production and reproduction of the collective conscience of a religious community. By relying on approaches existing in symbolic and social anthropology we can raise the issue of tracing the most salient and common religious rituals that have the principal role in reproducing the shias' collective conscience. According to Durkheim, religion and the sacred are ultimately the representation of the society in sacred symbols. In other words, the society reproduces itself in religious rituals and their accompanying ideology through these symbols.
In the process of these rituals, the believers' collective conscience is actively produced and reproduced and the the individual gains his collective consciousness out of the existing religious mentality in those rituals, thus internalizing his society.
Western travelogue writers from Safavids onwards have provided numerous data about various cultural domains and Iranian religious society. A noticeable issue for Christian observers in Iran, has been the Iranian religion especially Shiism.
The data indicate that the Muharram mourning ritual is the core of Shiite collective practice in which the believers reach the climax of their religious and collective emotions. By adopting Durkheim’s approach, Muharram ritual is to be considered as the central religious practice in which the Iranian Shias’ collective conscience and consciousness are produced and reproduced. This is where the believers’ religious mentality is shaped and the link between the individual and society is formed resulting in the development of social identity.
Keywords
)