Zurkhanehye Ayatollah Taleghani
Chizar square-Tehran
This is the last picture of my Zurkhaneh pictures and I just wanted to say that maybe these people are not really that fit anymore but as you can see there are hardly any young people in this Zurkhaneh and the fact that these people are still putting in the effort to keep this ancient unique tradition alive is really admiring. I won’t be surprised if this is the last generation of Pahlavans in the Zurkhaneh.
It really is a shame, seeing the hole thing live was a real joy. This particular combination of music and exercising which is based on ancient legendary tales and history is really unique. I will definitely try to go and see other Zurkhanehs in the future.
Yep it is sad that it's fading away. Not much is being done by the government it seems also to attract younger generations to it. I remember when I was a kid they took us to a tour of a fire station where the fire fighters had a place like this to do exercises. It had a real positive influence on me as a kid.
Sad.
But maybe it is not that much fading away. Perhaps it works in the way that as a modern youth you have so many other temptations and activities to get involved, but as you grow older then you change and you become to value things you did not value before or you return to things and activities that charmed you as a child. I see some of the men on the photos as being, let´s say, entering the second half of their middle-age. Maybe this is the generation that will carry on the traditions. And there will always be people entering this age and period of their lives. So I think all is not lost. Part of globalizing always means hanging to your local traditions. One cannot loose one´s identity. As an individual and as a nation.
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