Evaluation effect of Muharram mourning ceremony on social resilience against disasters (case study: Beryanak neighborhood, district 10 of Tehran city)

Background: Ashura has been the symbol of resilience of Imam Hussein and his followers during a great tribulation of the Islamic world. Mourning of Ashura has always been magnificent in the cities of Iran for many years. It seems that the mourning ceremony has a meaningful relationship with the resilience of society against disasters. Therefore, this research aims to study the role of ritual ceremony of Muharram in social resilience against disasters in Beryanak neighborhood, district 10 of Tehran city. Method: In this descriptive survey, the effect of Muharram mourning ceremony on resilience studied and analyzed emphasizing on dimensions of social capital and vitality of Beryanak neighborhood. After reviewing literatures, the specialized texts, and deducing the indicators, distribution of questionnaires and field observations of Beryanak neighborhood conducted in Muharram 2018. The results analyzed using statistical methods including SPSS and Expert Choice software. In addition, the correlation between the variables of "Muharram mourning ceremony" and "social resilience against disasters" was evaluated using regression. Findings: The results showed that Muharram mourning ceremony as one of the most important social capital in Iran neighborhoods has a subjective (non-physical) and an objective (physical) aspect. This spontaneous, dynamic, and intrusive ceremony in spite of being mourned for Imam Hussein and his followers, lead to the vitality of neighborhood. The components of participation, communication, security, religious activities and place attachment, which are the most important indicators of social resilience increase from 10 to 30 percent in Muharram compared to other days of the year. Conclusion: This article concludes that Muharram mourning ceremony leads to the promotion of resilience to disasters. In other words, the social resilience of Beryanak neighborhood from the point of view social capital and vitality of the neighborhood on ordinary days is about 45%, which is increasing by 60% during Muharram. In general, public awareness and preparedness for disasters in the neighborhood are estimated 40% and 45% respectively. Muharram mourning ceremony includes capacities and potentials such as locating and conducting Tekyeh on different scales at the neighborhood level by people that can be used as temporary housing during the crisis

Keywords:

social capital , neighborhood vitality , social resilience , disasters , mourning ceremony of Muharram , مناسک آیینی ماه محرم , تاب‌آوری اجتماعی , سوانح , سرمایۀ اجتماعی , سرزندگی محله