Villager – iTourismA

Zargar in a village located not so far from Tehran which its residents have the looks of both Aryans and the Vikings. These villagers are Shiite Muslims who either work on farms or breed livestock.

What distinguishes them from other Iranians is that their mother tongue is Romani, also known as Zargari by locals.

The elderly people remember an old man living in their village in the past who kept a record of his accounts in Russian.

But after he passed away, Russian slipped into oblivion, and now villagers speak Romani and write in Latin. The origin of their language is more like a myth.

These villagers themselves do not know to which part of the world they originally belong, what has brought them to Iran or how they have ended up being Shiite farmers speaking a different language in the heart of Farsi-speaking Iran.

One narrative says that Roma people moved to Iran centuries ago from the north.

Another suggests that they were originally Iranian and were recruited as soldiers for Shah Abbas’ Qizilbash army because of their bravery.

Still another says some 200 Roma were captured during a war between Iran and the Roman Empire and were pardoned by the Persian king.

Later they took up residence in an area in the vicinity of what is Qazvin today.

Zargar Village

The people of Zargar are renowned for their faithfulness; they do not divorce or betray.

The woman whose husband dies will never remarry, and the man who has a wife will never look for another woman.

And if anyone does wrong, s/he will be rejected from the village; meaning that although the person is physically living in the village, no one will pay attention to him or her.

This is the tradition of Zargari people as they are intolerant of those who slip.

Although legends attribute them to distant lands and relate them to parts of Europe, the people nonetheless love Iran and call themselves Iranians. Their culture somehow looks like Europeans.

Zargar people believe that having external walls around their yard is impolite for others and there are no specific boundaries constructed around.

Zargar Village

Meymand is a village in Kerman Province close to the city of Shahr-e babak where the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, Ardeshir the Unifier, is said to have been born. Based on archeological finds, experts believe the village is 3,000 to 8,000 years old. The village thrived under the Sassanid’s and even today Middle Persian words are common in the dialect spoken by villagers. Meymand village has been continuously inhabited for 2000 to 3000 years making it one of Iran’s four oldest surviving villages. Meymand resembles Cappadocia in Turkey and Kandovan Village in East Azerbaijan Province in that all three have stone-carved homes. Unlike Cappadocia which was abandoned by its residents, Meymand is still inhabited and while Kandovan was built to protect its population from attacks by the invading Mongol army in the 13th century, there is no evidence that Meymand ever came under attack. The village is a UNESCO world heritage site and was awarded UNESCO’s 2005 Melina Mercury prize.

Meymand is one of the districts of Shahr-e-Babak, and is one of the spectacular villages of Iran. Here there are a mass of crypts, with 15 stony, circular and roof-less chambers. The same covers an area of approximately 400 sq. m. This vicinity seems to be a place of burial, as skeleton bones and other articles have been found there. The ancient houses in this rural settlement resemble minarets constructed in the breast of these hard stone mountains. In this minaret shaped dwellings which are very strong and durable, are chambers, corridors and pillars displaying an intriguing architecture.

Meymand has extremely cold winters and mild summers. Villagers live a semi-nomadic lifestyle moving between four different settlements in the village throughout the year. From the end of winter until late spring, villagers live in Sar-e Aghol houses on the southern fields. There are in two different types Sar-e Aghol homes: Markhaneh and Mashkdan. Markhaneh structures are circular houses built partially underground to shelter inhabitants from the wind. They have low dry stone walls and roof coverings of wood and wild thistles. Temperatures inside these homes seldom vary and are almost always consistent. Mashkdan homes are built above ground and have dry stone walls with conical roofs made of branches. Some of the buildings used to house cattle have barrel vaulted brick or stone roofs.

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Zargar Village

Meymand Village