Investigating the Motifs of the Cover of Ḥārūn Vilāyat And the Role of Cover-Extension CeremonyIn Muharram Days in Isfahan

Among the ceremonies held in some great cities of Iran during Muharram is a ceremony called pūsh-kashī (pūsh = cover; kashī= extension). In Isfahan, in the past, the courtyards of hussainiyyas and tikyas were covered with painted fabrics, and this ceremony is still held in some of those sites including the hussainiyya of Hārūn Vilāyat. Since Qajar period, a fabric ornamented with verbal and visual texts and images were extended over the courtyard in Tasu‘a and Ashura days (9th and 10th days of Muharram). Because this ceremony has been held and those motifs have been used for some centuries in this site on a certain day, the present study aims at finding the semantic relation of those motifs and ceremonies with this site and with one another. Thus, the research question is as follows: “What is the effect of engraved covers of Hārūniyya hussainiyya on mourning ceremonies and on the site, and what meanings does it contain?” The data of the study were gathered through field study and documentation, and the research method was descriptive-analytical. The findings of the study show that the association of the verbal and visual signs consider the ‘Karbala rising’ and ‘being under Imam Hussein’s flag’ as ways to have a journey in the heavens, and studying these motifs reveals the mystical and epistemic origins of the ceremony.