the bahkitari nomads

Location:
iran
Created:

My stay with a warm-hearted nomadic family in the pristine nature of Shahrekord may have been short, but it was still on my way to search for beauty, and an important stop on this route.

As far as eyes could see, the giving generosity of nature, but hand-in-hand also its treasonous hostility; and of the men and women working together - successful or not -for a beautiful life.

Here, women work more than men. Start the morning earlier than men, and maybe they are full of unsaid things, more than men. And true, there are those with the luxury of calling this a male chauvinistic society.

I was a guest in a family of four. A Bakhtiari man who was a good definition of hospitality, and his wife who was full of kindness. She knew suffering, but was a strong woman.

Looking at the faces of young women and girls, you become aware of the hardships of their lives, all of them older than their years ... but also wiser and kinder.

Many were tired of living in tents and their way of life, and dreams of more stationary and leisurely lives never far; though they neither could nor wanted to change it.


In the life of all of us, pain may sometimes hit the bones, but we have no choice but to continue and fight.

They say that behind the words(I don't know), there may be some knowledge.
But even here life always moves on, not caring whether it is easy or hard.

Here they say that men want women who are beautiful and can work, work and work.
And women, men who are kind, strong, handsome, and maybe unsurprisingly, keep a healthy quantity of sheep.

I was more conversant with the women and girls
It is not that they had nothing to say
In fact, they had many unsaid words
But repetition always makes a person silent
And it will not be enough to just use the verb to want
It is true that each one of us loses something that is dear to us, but the loss of ourselves is beyond what we think. It was not strange.
I had heard before that habit is death, habit is the end.
This is a famous dilemma for man; trying to achieve what he likes or accepting and loving what he has.
I do not know ... Maybe the light of hope and happiness could be found only in tents that had love.
I think this was the only thing that, if there were, we could not lose hope, and be satisfied with everything we had ...

because we were full of love.  

Chieftains' Tent

The Weaving Loom

The loom is staffed around the clock. The making of the tents' woolen roofs is a laborsome activity, each row (out of ultimately many) requiring ten days to finish.
Shepherding and making yarn

The Children

An unruly goat jumped the fence, but Farhad was quick to put it back in its place
Merzana (6)

The Morning

The mornings start with a bonfire after which hot water can be readied
The men herd sheep to where food can be found
And women clean dishes from the previous night's meal.
And children play
Love is not a requirement for marriages more involved in the practicalities of life, its absence however often making for a more lonesome life
Bread-baking at these speeds is a hard chore.