The Function of Symbols in Some Cultural Traditions of the People of Tunikabun and Their Lifestyle

Cognitive aspects of lifestyle are among its most complicated and difficult-to-understand aspects. They are models and schemata with the help of which citizens understand reality and make sense of the world surrounding them. Objective aspects of lifestyle have their foundations in the cognitive aspects. There are different methods for grasping the aspects, including symbols in games and traditional rites. Through examining symbols in each culture one can grasp people’s beliefs, opinions, and communication networks, and also conduct a semantic analysis of cultural, social, economic, and psychological behavior of various ethnicities. This means that symbols are a manifestation of people’s sense of cultural belonging in any particular region, which repeat themselves in the people’s lives and reinforce a certain understanding of identity. This study has been conducted with an analytic-descriptive approach and by using the observational method in order to offer an anthropological analysis of definitions of experts on cultural anthropology, and of the function of symbols in some customs and lifestyle of Tunikabun’s people. These people, like in many other regions of the land of Iran, have a whole variety of customs and symbols. Rituals such as ‘chicken blessing’, ‘kalli-pāchi discernment’, ‘the number of 100 for hunters’, and ‘the ladybird’ in different ceremonies each manifest some of the beliefs of the people in the region. The research findings show that the symbols in these rituals have for the most part a function of escaping from the indeterminacy of future. Furthermore, the study of these symbols shows a few important cultural traits of Tunikabun’s people that make a breeding ground for fortunetelling: an optimistic attitude towards future, bonding with nature, little acceptance of indeterminacy, and patriotism.