Kamangir (Archer)

Modern Tazieh

Kamangir | March 28, 2006 | Category Iran

Tazieh (Persian تعزیه) is a religious theater that shows the sufferings of Muslim figures. Basically, you would see Tazieh for the prophet or Imam Hossein, but I have heard of Tazieh for other figures, too. The historic roots of Tazieh return to old poets who composed very long simple poems which were read by the actors of Tazieh with a specific tone of that event. By tradition, good people wear green while bad ones wear red. Then the couple-of-hours event of Tazieh demonstrates the sufferings through a theater in which even actors of bad guys will also morn for what they are doing. Last year, I took great pictures when there was a Tazieh in Semnan. There, the bad man was supposed to beat the children of a good man. He really beat them very seriously when he saw me taking his picture. Any way, thanks to the modern technology, now the actors use wireless microphones to show their sufferings when the bad guys torture them with fire.

One of my photos from a Tazieh in Semnan.