Investigating the Role of Celebrations Held in Azerbaijan during the Reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi from the Perspective of Spreading a New Lifestyle

One of the most important mechanisms of cultural institutions and circles affiliated with the first Pahlavi power, to lay the ground for the ruling lifestyle discourse, was to use the celebration to familiarize the people and make them ready to accept the lifestyle components, cultural symbols and propaganda behavioral patterns of the first Pahlavi government. It could be the basis and facilitator of adopting the lifestyle spread by different sections of the people. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of celebrations held in the province of Azerbaijan in the period 1304 to 1320 (AH) in disseminating the components of the lifestyle considered by Reza Shah's government. For this purpose, various celebrations held in this region of the country have been studied using a descriptive-analytical method. A review of the documents and historical sources related to that period was done to answer the question of What celebrations were held in different regions of Azerbaijan during the reign of Reza Shah? Did they play a role in representing different aspects of the advertised lifestyle? Findings show that holding various celebrations in different parts of Azerbaijan gave the ruling political system the opportunity to be able to consider some of the most important elements of their lifestyle, such as: Behavioral patterns including new uniforms for different sections and women of Azeri society. They wanted to promote, disseminate and represent elements of national identity such as the spread of Persian language and literature, national and cultural symbols such as "Shah symbol of Iran", "archeology of the symbol of Iranian nationality", etc in order to achieve some objectives such as: creating a rift in the ethnic and local identity of the people of Azerbaijan and integrating the indigenous and local culture of this region in the national and central identity and culture, aligning them with reform programs implemented in society, stimulating the feelings of the masses and reducing opposition. They wanted to disseminate the ideological components and elements of the system, form a new type of public socialization and finally achieve the process of nationalization.