Shia Muslim Processional Performances

Performance Objects of Muḥarram in Iran: A Story through Steel

“…The Performance Objects Documented in Dasteh and Taziyeh Rituals Dasteh is possibly the earliest Shiʿi ritual in the public sphere: the first recorded mourning processions commemorating Imam Ḥusayn took place as early as the tenth century AD in Baghdad, and became highly developed in Iran from the Safavid period onward (Chelkowski, 1985 and1994). If one refers to recent studies, dasteh and taziyeh (ritual theatre) often seem to be treated as two distinct subjects: Taziyeh seems to attract the most scholarly interest, from a theatrical and musical to an anthropological standpoint.…”

“…As Chelkowski's foundational studies have shown, the theatre was originally a part of the procession, before the two became separate ambulatory and stationary rituals. The passion play that was born around the middle of the eighteenth century (Arnold 1889, Chelkowski, 1985 and2009) was at first without dialogue or theatrical form. It emerged from the procession, then "the parade costumes became stage costumes," but "the umbilical cord between the procession and the drama was never completely severed."…”