The Festival of Gul-i Surkh: A Bactro-Sogdian Cultural Survival along the Silk Roads

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• Jonathan Lee
• Friday 07 October 2022, 14:00-15:00
• Audit Room, King's College and Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErd-GgqjMtGNGBjaTi-oeJh4ndY-owLaxY.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Katie Campbell.

The shrine of ‘Ali b Abi Talib (Shah-i Mardan) in Mazar-I Sharif, northern Afghanistan, is an important centre for the celebration of Nauroz (New Year). At the same time this shrine is the focus for two other consecutive events/festivals: Janda Bala –the raising of a banner-pole said to having miraculous healing powers – and Gul-i Surkh (Red Flower/Rose). The lecture will discuss the historical background to this shrine which claims to be the last resting place of ‘Ali b Abi Talib, through the lens of the Balkh region’s ancient association as a major cult centre in pre-Islamic times. It will then discuss what is known of the customs and traditions of the Gul-i Surkh festival, including accounts of similar ‘red flower’ festivals recorded in the Bukhara and Ferghana regions in the nineteenth to early twentieth century. The lecture will then to suggest the possible origins of the Gul-i Surkh tradition in the ancient religious and cultural traditions of the region, such as the ‘Mourning for Siyawash’, as well as wider influences such as the Armenian Vardavar festival, and Hellenistic and Near Eastern influences. This examination leads to the conclusion that the Bactrian-Sogdian region played an important role in the exchange, interaction and remoulding of religious and cultic traditions along the Silk Road, as well as demonstrating how such ancient traditions were adapted to accommodation the prevailing Islamic ethos.

Dr. Lee is a British-born independent researcher who has spent most of his career working and studying in the area of Afghanistan and Central Asia. He has also worked as a short-term consultant for Aid agencies and Non-Government Organisations. His academic publications include numerous articles on the archaeology, social and religious history of Afghanistan and the Indo-Iranian frontier. He is the author of The Ancient Supremacy: Bukhara, Afghanistan and the Battle for Balkh, 1732-1901 (Brill, Leiden, 1996) and Afghanistan, a History 1260 to the present Day (Reaktion Books, London, 2022). His current project is a History of the Armenian community of Afghanistan to be published by Edinburgh University Press. The present lecture is based on Dr Lee’s unpublished doctoral thesis presented to the Dept, of Religious Studies, University of Leeds. He is now semi-retired and he and his wife currently live in the Greater Auckland area of New Zealand.

This talk is part of the King's Silk Roads series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Audit Room, King's College and Zoom https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZErd-GgqjMtGNGBjaTi-oeJh4ndY-owLaxY
• King's Silk Roads

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