The Role of Sacred Food in the Rituals of the Tribes; Case Study: The Rainmaking Ritual

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Head of the Department of Myth and Ceremony, Anthropological Research Center; Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Food and nutrition are essential for life. It also has a great effect on social relations. Different tribes have their own belief system about food and use different foods for their celebrations and rituals and there are different tastes in food in different beliefs and rituals. Rainmaking ritual is one of the rituals in which the role of food is quite prominent. This article examines and analyzes the semiotics of the two ritual foods of ash and bread in this ceremony. Two foods that are cooked and distributed in most parts of Iran for rainmaking ceremonies. Foods cooked in this ceremony, type of collection of raw materials for these feeds, and prepare and cook them and then distribute them among those who attended in this ceremony, each with its own signs and symbols. The roots of the sanctity of wheat and the baking of bread go back to the myths of creation, and in the cooking of Ash, beans are used, which symbolize the plant and its growth, and the string dough string that is the product of wheat and the product of its growth. In fact, Ash is a symbol of nature that has been formed by rain.

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