Nomadic transhumance

At the time of Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life, nomadism was still a significant reality in Iran. The tribes constituted a secular force, military and political, in many regions. Everything will change with Reza Shah Pahlavi, who takes power the same year the film is released (he is crowned king in 1926), and who will launch a rapid modernization and westernization of the country, continued by his son Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi (reigned 1941-1979). Little by little, nomads will become sedentary, sometimes by choice, often by force, in an increasingly industrialized and urbanized country. Today, the tribes, which have become semi-nomadic, still maintain transhumance practices, moving from warm lands to cold lands as summer approaches, and from cold lands to more temperate lands towards winter. Decades of sedentarization have sometimes profoundly transformed certain customs and the lifestyle of nomads, even if they have also been able to preserve traditions which still define their fundamental identity (culture, cuisine, ceremonies, music and dance, etc.).