Table of Contents

• GILĀN xv. Popular and Literary Perceptions of Identity

  Christian Bromberger

  In Afghanistan, Uzbeks are called “noodle eaters” by their neighbors and in Persia the Arabs from Khuzestan are stigmatized as susmārḵor “lizard eaters”.

• GILAN xvi. FOLKLORE

  Christian Bromberger

  Even today, old women believe that cutting down an āzād tree is an act of sacrilege. Whether they are themselves objects of worship or simply grow near the tombs of saints, near cemeteries or inside mosques, these trees are places of devotion, each one dedicated to a specific type of wish (naẕr).

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• GILAN xvii. Gender Relations

  Christian Bromberger

  In Gilan roles and tasks are distributed according to a more flexible pattern: to a large extent, women take an important part in agricultural work; in their homes, the line between male and female spaces is blurred; craftwork, industrial, and commercial activities are not the exclusive prerogative of men in this region.

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• GILAN xviii. Rural Production Techniques

  Christian Bromberger

  Chaff produces a great amount of smoke and was once used to punish miscreants or disobedient children who were locked up in the dud otāḡ (literally “smoke room,” where sheaves of rice were dried and cocoons stifled). This punishment was called fal-a dud (“the smoke from the rice chaff”).

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• GILĀN xix. Landholding and Social Stratification

  Christian Bromberger

  Prior to the Land Reform of 1962 that began the process of land redistribution, the dominant production system in Gilān, as in the majority of Persianprovinces, was of a feudal nature.

• GILĀN xx. Handicrafts

  Christian Bromberger

  Gilān was a region that produced raw materials (including silk), to which one came for supplies, much more than a region where finished products were made; and the area long remained rural, with only minor importance accorded to towns housing professionals, workshops, and master craftsmen.

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• GILĀN xxi. Cooking

  Christian Bromberger

  Eating habits and culinary preparations in Gilān have several distinct characteristics. In this rice-producing region, the consumption of rice is much higher than elsewhere in Persia. Garden vegetables and kitchen herbs (sabzi) generally appear in the makeup of most dishes and give the regional cuisine the green touch that is its hallmark.

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• GĪLĀN NEWSPAPERS

  Nassereddin Parvin

  title of four newspapers published in Rašt.

• GILANENTZ CHRONICLE

  Ina Baghdiantz McCabe

  a compendium of reports collated as a journal by Petros di Sarkis Gilanentz (Gilanencʿ), which constitutes an important source for the history of events in Transcaucasia and Persia during the period March 1722 to August 1723, notably the Afghan invasion and siege of Isfahan.

• GĪLĀNŠĀH

  Cross-Reference

  See ONṢOR-AL-MAʿĀLĪ.