TEHRAN—On Monday, people in the touristic village of Abyaneh held a Nakhl-Gardani ritual in commemoration of Ashura.

Apart from the locals, tens of travelers attended the religious ceremony to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (AS) and his loyal companions, slain in 680 CE at Karbala in modern-day Iraq.

Traditionally held in several villages, towns, and cities across Iran, Nakhl-Gardani or Nakhl-Bardari is a symbolic representation of the Imam’s coffin and funeral.

Picturesquely situated at the foot of Mt Karkas (3899m), Abyaneh is a testament to both the age and semi-isolation from other parts of the country as the elderly residents speak Middle Persian, an earlier incarnation of Farsi that largely disappeared some centuries ago.

Located some 40 kilometers from Natanz, Isfahan province, Abyaneh is like a living architectural and anthropological museum. It presents an impressive model of man's adaptation to the environment.

Abyaneh has a compact texture with narrow and steep alleys. Located on the slopes of the mountain, the houses are arranged in a stair-step shape, so that the roofs of some houses are the yards of others. Timbers, straw, and clay have been used for building roofs. The walls, built from red mud bricks, are impressive. The mud bricks harden when they are exposed to rain. The houses have been built facing the east to get the maximum sunshine.

AM