TEHRAN – Rice farmers in northern Iran will show gratitude to the generosity of nature at harvest season during a festival on September 10.

Jaja village near Rezvanshahr in Gilan Province will host the 10th Harvest Festival, which is annually held in September and is open to public.

Most residents of the region are rice farmers who harvest their paddy fields in September.

The festival includes regional music performance as well as some local recreation programs like Lafandbazi, a kind of tightrope walking, and Qishbazi, a kind of competition with belt.

Gilemardi wrestling and Gilemard thanksgiving rituals are also amongst the events of the festival which are performed.

The festival was registered on Iran’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 1992.

The festival aims to safeguard regional and cultural values and to celebrate the end of farming year and rice harvest season.

PHOTO: A group of Gilaks perform a ritual in an undated photo

SB/PA
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