Arba-Tima Festival in Talysh and Gilan- Part 1/3
Arba-Tima Festival in Talysh and Gilan
Part 1/3:
“Arba-tima” /ærbʌ ti:mʌ/- sometimes called Deshava-tima /dəʃɒvæti:mʌ/- is a seasonal festival whereby families, households and relatives come together to make Arba-Deshav- or Dushab in Persian language. Arba-Tima festival usually starts in late October- early November, which is mid-Autumn in Talysh and Gilan, and lasts for about one and half month. It is one of the long-standing traditions in Talysh region which celebrated almost by everyone.
Deshav or Dushab, in general, is kind of syrup extracted from fruits. The main ingredient of this Deshav is a fruit known as Arba by Talyshan (Southern Dialect) or Wild persimmon in English. The tree bearing this fruit is Arba-dar /ærbʌdɒr/- Diospyros Lotus in english- and is native to the Hyrcanian forests (Talysh-Gilan-Tabarestan) and grows naturally in abundance.
The timber of this tree is known for its strength and quality and often used in heavy duty applications. Since this particular Deshav is made of Arba- wild persimmon in English- it is called “Arba-Deshav” which often has Auburn color (reddish brown).
This fruit- Arba - wild persimmon - has different names throughout Caspian region. In eastern Tabarestan this fruit is Khormandi /xɔ:rmændi:/ and it became Kahlo /kæhlʊ/ or Kalo /kælʊ/ in central Tabarestan. Moreover, in some parts of Tabarestan the name of this fruit is Forooni /fɔ:rɔ:ni:/. And, in Gilan this fruit is known as Arba or Arbah. Nonetheless, in Talysh region, this fruit is known with three two names. Speakers of southern dialect of Talyshi call this fruit Arba whereas it is Ambra /æmbrʌ/ in middle dialect and Ambur /ambu:r/ in northern dialect. Moreover, the tree bearing the fruit is Arba-dar, Ambra-dar /æmbrʌ dɒr/ or Ambur-a du /ambu:r dɒr/ in southern, middle and northern Talyshi dialects repectively. Similarly, the syrup extracted from this fruit pronounced differently in Tabarestan, Gilan and Talysh. In Tabarestan is Dsho /dəʃʌ/, in Gilan and Talysh is Deshab /dəʃɒb/ or Deshav /dəʃɑv/ (Ambr-a-Dshav or Arba-Deshav).
Traditional way of preparing Deshav in Talysh
Arba-Deshav preparation might be different in parts of Gilan and Tabarestan
(Mazandaran and Gorgan), however, this article describes how Talyshan of
Gashteroodkhan county in Fuman, and Talyshan of Shaft - both in Gilan province -
prepare Dushab or Deshav. The process and rituals are more or less the same
throughout Talysh region.The below documentary shows Deshav making by Talyshan on Asalem.
- Kura-sazi /kʊræ sɒzi:/ or oven construction
- Izma-voari /i:zmæ vɔæri:/ or firewood collection
- Arba-chini /ærbʌ ʧi:ni:/ or plucking Arba
- Arab-kyui /ærbʌ kʊji:/ or smashing arba
- Rava-geri /rʌvæ geri:/ or extracting fruit juice (Ravah)
- Tashta-penayi /tæʃtæ penæji:/ or setting up a pan
- Kula-jani /kʊlæ ʒæni:/ or stirring with Kula (a plant)
- Zarda-vish /zærdævi:ʃ/ or getting yellowish
- Marjava-gl /mærʤɔ:æ - gəl/ or boiling like lentils
- Pela-gl /pɪlʌ gəl/ or boiling like pilaf
- Tashta- ageri /tæʃtæ ɒgeri:/ or removing the pan
- Tashta alisi /tæʃtæ ɒli:si:/ or scrubbing the pan
1- Kura-sazi
The preparation for Arba-tima festival begins with building a traditional oven out of mud (Tanur)- picture. Families choose a secluded corner in their yard to build the oven. In the meantime, they would set up a temporary shed which has similar structure to a kutum /ku:tu:m/ or Kutuma /ku:tu:mæ/.
Kutum is an elevated structure built by the
rice paddies or farms in which farmers spend the night guarding the field and
to ward off animals that intrude the farm such as wild bores etc. You may watch this
documentary (in persian) on Kutuma and its place in Talysh culture and life. Frontal porch at traditional Talysh houses is also known as Kutuma or Kutum which residents often use it during spring and summer seasons.
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| A typical Kutuma by the rice paddy |
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| view of frontal porch or Kutum in a traditional Talysh house |
The tanur or oven structure is usually one and half meter height made and comes with two holes on each side which serves as air ventilators. The diameter of the air ventilators- vager in Talyshi- is somewhere close to diameter of circle-shaped trays that is found in most Talysh households. Once the oven is built, it is left to dry and in the meantime, they start collecting firewood.
2- Izma voari
It literary means "bring firewood". The collected firewood is stored next to the oven.
3- Arba chini
Once oven construction is completed and enough firewood is collected, now is turn for collecting Arba from forest or "Araba chini". Family members accompanied by kids take 10-12 baskets and head towards forest with a few horses. These baskets in Talyshi are called Safa /sæfæ/ and because being used for Araba collection it is often called Arba-safa /ærbʌsæfæ/. These baskets are made by weaving branches of sour plum tree. This tree in Talyhi is Trsha-Aro /tərʃæ əru:/ or Trsha-Xaro /tərʃæ xææru:/.
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| Arba-safa |
In forest, they look for Arba-dar (Diospyros Lotus) that bore nice fruit. One of the team members is assigned to climb the tree with rope - as long as the tree - and a sickle. This person is called Arba-chin . He or she cuts the branches that are full of fruit, bundles them with the rope and sends them down. This bundle of Arab in Talyshi is called ishtaq /əʃtək/ or Arba-Ishteq /ærbʌ əʃtək/. The person who receives the bundle of Arba - Ishtaq-a-ger /əʃtəkæger/ - unbundles the pack and disperse it neatly on the ground. The rest of Arba-chini team get into work of plunking the fruits from the branches and place it in the baskets.
Only big branched are removed and small branches that are attached to fruit left untouched. This because the fruit tastes bitter and astringent however the tree branches are somewhat sweet and contain sweet chemicals that plays an important in the taste of the final product (Dushab). thus fruits are plucked with the tiny branches attached to it.
At the end of Arab-chini, horses are loaded with baskets and if there are more baskets left, adults carry it on their back. The baskets come with sleeve-like handles that helps lifting and carrying the baskets on the back. These ropes are made from rice stems and called Balak /bʌlæk/ in Talyshi.
