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Ja’fari Dahaghi M. Protecting Water And Water celebrations in the Iranian Mythology. Cult Herit Rec Stud 2024; 2 (2)
URL: http://chrs.richt.ir/article-3-193-en.html

Iran has experienced a variety of climatic and geographical changes from ancient times onwards. A noticeable part of the Iranian central plateau has been surrounded by three mount ranges of Alborz in the north, Zagros in the west and Taftān mountains in the east as well as extensive arid deserts. The last one which is one of the most infertile deserts in the world consists of Dasht-e Kavīr in the north and Dasht-e Lūt in the south. Existence of desert in Iran makes our land to be always threatened by drought. In such circumstances, creation of mythologies concerning rain-creating seems logical. Accordingly, such myths dates back to the antiquity when our land was faced with drought and climatic problems. From the other side, the contents of the Iranian mythology about water reveal that protection and monitoring of water were of paramount importance and the Iranians have had diverse rituals, celebrations and prayers in this regard. This article tries to re-identify some of these rituals and celebrations in terms of cultural researches as well as archeological excavations. Their valuable aspects should be investigated and assessed in order to use the results in protection and monitoring of its national reservoirs.