Tazieh and Mourning for Siavash

The dramatic quality of Tazieh is the most important artistic aspect of this ritual which has attracted the attention of the dramatic artresearchers. Therefore the researchers have been seeking sources from which Tazieh could be inspired. Some researchers have detected traces of the ancient mythical rituals of Iran such as Mourning for Siavashand demonstrate that Tazieh is inspired by it.There are very detailed and completely incidental similarities between these rituals and other analogous types such as the Christian religious medieval dramas in Europe, the Mesopotamian myths, the oriental theaters in India, China, etc. are considered by many to be the origin or contributing elements of the inspirations on Tazieh.These viewpoints are not substantiated by documents for verifying these claims.Tazieh, as the most important religious dramatic art of Iran and espoused by the religion and drawing on the Shiite mourning customs,has developed passing through some centuries of change since the emergence of Imam Hussein’s mourning rituals in 4th century up to the inception of verse performances in 12th and 13th centuries.The ups and downs indifferent stages of the formation of Taziehought to be studied and analyzed in the context of Shiitepolitical history.The political limitations ofShiite people and the enmity of the hostile rulers and caliphs with them as well as banning ofpromoting the message of the imams and prophet’s family caused the hindrance of the formation of Tazieh in the current form for centuries. Adopting this approach,the political and cultural objectives of Shia in the course of the history, the efforts for gaining more effective ways of conveyance of promoting the ideals of Ashura uprising, along with the literal and artistic capabilities of Shias, possessing historical sources, verse hymns, semi-dramatic verse cycles, narrative hymns, and the like in Persian as well as, the possibilities and capacities of the Karbala narrative for being turned into a dramatic performance are considered the most significant emerging grounds of Tazieh by Shias. Therefore, this removes the necessity of bringing up the subject of the inspiration of ancient mythical rituals on Tazieh.