The Reflection of Popular Beliefs of the Two Tribes "Goklan" and "Yumut" in the Novel Fire without Smoke

Abstract

One areas of study in popular culture and literature concerns the beliefs of the tribes. The Turkmen are one of the Iranian tribes that have different beliefs. The common Turkmen beliefs stem from their thoughts, beliefs, ideals, feelings, emotions, and lifestyle. Since some popular beliefs and ideas are instructive and worth pondering, this study tries to introduce some of the different Turkmen tribes, and some of the common popular beliefs among the two Turkmen peoples (Goklan and Yumut), which are reflected in Nader Ebrahimi's novel Fire, without Smoke. This study employed a library-based and analytic-descriptive method. The results show that the popular beliefs of the two tribes could be grouped into 4 categories: 1. Philosophical and mythological beliefs, 2. Beliefs about life and its stages, 3. Medical beliefs and general treatment, and 4. Calendric and meteorological. Some of these beliefs are rooted in religious teachings. Some are derived from Iranian culture, which are found not only among Turkmen but also among other ethnic groups. Some others are due to the Turkmen way of life and are specific to the culture of this people, while still others are baseless and unrealistic beliefs that stem from superstitions.

Research background

There are several studies conducted on the novel Fire, without smoke. Azizi Nik (2003) found that the two tribes of Yamut and Goklan had conflicts with each other due to their superficial customs, and even in some cases, these differences and conflicts led to wars between them. Rezvanian and Nouri (2009) indicate that the narrator of this novel insists on taking each character home. Therefore, he leaves nothing to the mind of the audience.

Sadeghi et al. (2016) conducted an intertextual analysis of the novel concluding that the staging of the novel involved intertextual communication and linguistic effects in the selection of ancient words and grammatical, rhetorical features, and the tactical effects such as the speed of initiation as well as the intervention of the narrator.

In relation to the poetic language of the novel, Taheri and Askari (2017) showed that Ebrahimi adorned his novel’s superstructure with de-familiarizations and illustrations in order to immortalize the poetic and romantic revolutionary content of his novel in the reader's mind.

A more critical study is that of Miri et al. (2015), borrowing Fairclough and Michael Short's models to analyze the power relations in the novel. They have concluded that the way the two central characters of the novel deal with others in the dialogues is directly proportional along with many ups and downs as well as their life span. Galan's dialogues with those around him are limited to certain people, and over time, this circle gets narrower so much as with his death, his coercive domination ends. Alleni, on the other hand, not only engages in dialogue with all people, particularly women, but also forces them to be at the center of the dialogue. Therefore, as far as the authors of the present study are concerned, no particular research has been conducted on the popular beliefs of the two mentioned tribes in this novel.

Research aims and questions

The purpose of this study is to examine the common beliefs among the two tribes "Goklan" and "Yamut" which are reflected in the novel Fire, without Smoke, in order to understand the lifestyle, ideas, views, and thoughts of these two Turkmen tribes and get acquainted with their sociocultural manifestations.

To this aim, the following questions were raised:

1. What popular beliefs of the two Turkmen tribes "Goklan" and "Yamut" are reflected in the novel Fire, without Smoke?

2. Where do the beliefs of these two tribes stem from?

Results and discussion

The popular culture is a common phenomenon and is deeply rooted in people. It covers all the superstructure aspects of society such as: customs and traditions, rituals and mourning, celebrations, beliefs, knowledge, and do's and don'ts (Bakhtiari, 2003, p. 24). One of the manifestations of popular culture is the beliefs of tribes which lead to the creation of particular attitudes. Since these beliefs originate from a sole human spirit, there are sometimes common beliefs shared among different ethnic groups (Hedayat, 2000, p. 23). In the novel Fire, without Smoke, Nader Ebrahimi has written about the history, culture, and folklore of the Turkmen under various pretexts: "In this novel, he speaks better than any Turkmen about their beliefs and combines the delineation of the infinity of nature with the sufferings and joys of the Turkmen" (Mir Abedini, 1998, p. 538). This study, however, examined the popular beliefs that are common among the two tribes "Goklan" and "Yamut" and are reflected in the novel. For a thorough scrutiny of these beliefs, they were classified into sub-categories such as: philosophical and mythological beliefs, beliefs related to life and its stages, medical beliefs and popular remedies, and chronology and popular meteorology. Given that Nader Ebrahimi lived among the Turkmen people for an extended period of time, the popular culture of the Turkmen was fully known to him. He used many of their ideas in his novel as he heard them all from the Turkmen elderly and had no involvement in them whatsoever. In addition to advancing the novel, these types of allusions help to make the events of the story more realistic for the contemporary readers.

The Turkmen people have popular beliefs on various issues of life due to their ancient culture and special way of life. Influenced by the age in which they lived, the two Turkmen tribes of Yamut and Goklan have embedded a number of popular beliefs into their lives that need to be explored in the context of popular culture, because these beliefs represent the thoughts and attitudes of these two tribes about the universe and also express their social lifestyle. Some beliefs of these two tribes are reflected in the novel Fire, without Smoke and are considered as the themes of this novel. In the present study, through analyzing different parts of the mentioned novel, we attempted to sketch out the reflection of popular beliefs among the tribes "Yamut" and "Goklan" in this novel. The result of this study shows the course of these popular beliefs in the depths of thoughts, feelings, initiatives, odd events as well as wonders in the life of Turkmen tribes. Some of these beliefs, such as marriage, having a daughter for a child, jinxing, music, and reddening of the sky are rooted in the religious and Islamic teachings. Some of them, such as human sins, belief in destiny, shedding innocent blood, and treating heartache are rooted in Iranian culture. Some others, such as the belief in horoscope, the simultaneous use of two new things that make the owner sad, the act of carrying gold which leads to the women's happiness, and the healing the sacred tree gives all stem from superstition.

Some beliefs such as Turkmens being made out of iron, horses’ loyalty to their owners, infant mortality, and mourning and burial of the dead are also common among these people, which are derived from their lifestyle. The formation of these types of beliefs are the result of spiritual and psychological forces. The two tribes have acquired them from their social environment.

All in all, Nader Ebrahimi is clearly influenced by the popular culture of these tribes in reflecting and scrutinizing the beliefs of their ideologies. He has fairly been successful in this area, due to the fact that he has narrated the beliefs of the Turkmen people through reports and quotations given by the characters wherever necessary. This has led to the creation of a true story that, besides its content and spiritual impact, makes enjoyment for the readers.
References


Azizi Nik, N. (2003). The story of a novel in the smokeless fire by Nader Ebrahimi. Fiction, 43, 43 - 47.


Bakhtiari, M. R. (2003). Folklore of folk literature. Adiban.


Hedayat, S. (2000). Folk culture of the Iranian people. Cheshmeh.


Mir Abedini, H. (1998). One hundred years of Iranian fiction (Vol. 1 & 2). Cheshmeh.