Bezad's Last Journey - Iranian migration
"Bezad's Last Journey" is an Irish film released by "Crossing the Line Films" in 2004, running for 56 minutes. It's produced and directed by John Murray, and it describes how a group of nomadic tribespeople take their sheep and goats on a long walk through the Zagross mountains of Iran. The nomads were accompanied by Dermot Somers, an Irish writer and mountaineer, but I don't think his voice is heard in the film - it is presented entirely through the voices and actions of Bazad and his daughters and companions.
The Qashqa'i are a confederation of tribes mostly of Turkic descent and language, who settled in the Fars region of southern Iran some centuries ago. Today there are between 1 and 1.5 million of them. According to one informative website, they have become increasingly settled over the past 50 years, and even those who still migrate make increasing use of vehicles. Therefore the film is focusing on what is now a small minority of the Qashqa'i, and a way of life that is disappearing.
So why do some still go through this annual migration? The winter pastures where the flocks graze are in the south of Iran, and these become hot and dusty in the summer, so the nomads take their animals northwards into the cooler mountains to their summer pastures. Similar migrations occurred in many other countries, even in western Europe, where some French shepherds went through the annual transhumance to summer pastures. In the Scottish Highlands there are many remains of summer sheilings where livestock were taken each year (see this section of the climb of Carn Gorm in Glen Lyon).
Most of the Qashqa'i herdsmen in this film seem to be elderly, although we also see shots of younger men and women. Barzad is getting old but he takes his two daughters with him to help with the work of herding the sheep and goats, and the older daughter makes important contributions to the narrative. It's not clear what his wife does whilst they are away for the summer as their winter home seems to have been dismantled!
The women do a lot of the hard work, and Barzad's daughter complains about having to chase the young animals to tie them up for the night, as well as having to milk the ewes. But she speaks with respect and love for her father who always does his best for the two girls. She gets a lot of enjoyment from the migration, but it's hard work. One day, she hopes, the right man will come along and they will settle down in the city.
The old men get together every evening around a camp fire and discuss the difficulties of their journey, as well as enjoying some stories, jokes and music. Barzad interrupts a tune he's playing on the pipe as the fire flares up suddenly: "don't burn the musician", he says.
Although he says he enjoys the freedom of the migration, there seem to be more tangible difficulties which are beginning to overwhelm him.
- We see the herdsmen and their flocks having to walk across, or along, busy roads, trying to avoid the many heavy trucks which have no patience for nomads.
- Then there's a young woman who gets sick and can't even stay on a donkey - Barzad is left looking over her, far from the road, crying out for help. Once again, it's not clear what happens to her, although we hear she's OK.
- Further on, the nomads have to cross land which is now cultivated, and the farmer gets very irritated with them. They are finding this more and more often along their traditional route.
- And we see Barzad on the night-time watch, looking out for thieves who could take some of the animals. They used to take maybe 6 at a time, now they have trucks and can take 60. They'd sell them in Esfahan or Tehran.
- And so Barzad is increasingly tired - he is clearly suffering at the end of the day and needs time to recover from the walk and the lack of sleep. He doesn't know how much longer he can keep doing this.
But once at the summer pastures, he and his colleagues erect their sturdy tents and settle down with a cup of tea and relax. They can savour the cool breezes from the mountains and contemplate staying there for the next two months. Then they move to another pasture for one more month before returning to their winter home.
This is beautiful country - clearly the Qashqa'i love it and value it as part of their heritage, but their nomadic way of life is disappearing fast. For the rest of us with our sedentary, settled lives, it's a real insight into a different world.
It's well worth finding out more by going to the Qashqai.net website referred to earlier. It explains the history and culture of the Qashqa'i, with a number of photos, and even has a page linking to some samples of tribal music which conjur up images of these proud people gathering and enjoying their traditional way of life.
There's another web page providing information on the Qashqa'i tribes, and I found both these via the relevant Wikipedia page.
Although this isn't a region that many tourists get to visit, some have done so and met Qashqa'i nomads. There's this story by an American writer, Elisabeth Orgorzaly Greenberg, who was entertained to lunch by the Qashqa'i, and another by a Scottish writer, John Kellie, who had tea with them during a break from visiting the ancient ruins of Persepolis.
See also this, copieid from the Morocco page: a link to a story from the Guardian of 16 June 2007, which describes a walking holiday with a difference, joining a group of semi-nomadic tribespeople travelling through the mountains. It's by Isabel Choat, who writes: "The plan was to walk with a family from the semi-nomadic Ait Atta tribe as they migrated from their base in the wild and breathtakingly beautiful Jebel Sarhro mountains to the High Atlas range." Follow this link to read this fascinating story.
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