Nakhl Gardani is a Shia religious ritual carried out on the day of Ashura for commemorating the death of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Moḥammad and third Shia Imam. Nakhl is a wooden structure used as a symbolic representation of the Imam’s coffin and Nakhl Gardani is the act of carrying the Nakhl from one place to another, resembling an Imam’s funeral.
Nakh-Gardani is the act of carrying Nakhl, sometimes by “several strong men”, on the Day of Ashura, as if it is Imam Husyan’s coffin. The ritual, historically dating back to pre-Safavids (almost 450 years ago), is carried out at various places in Iran. People carrying the Nakhlon their shoulders are guided by the people standing on the Nakhl.
