Lorish and Kurdish Women

Lorish and Kurdish Women

Lorish and Kurdish women are the strongest and most passionate women in Iran. The women are always beside the men in working, dancing, and singing. Sometimes the women were ahead of the men, and always joining in supporting the family or tribe. To learn more about this, read the true story of Laili Banu.

The Story of Laili – Banu

Once upon a time, over 100 years ago, there lived a beautiful young lady from Alashtar in the lush mountains of Lorestan. She was really an intelligent girl. When she was about fourteen, she was married to the chief of her tribe in accordance with the traditions.

She had a comfortable life living happily with her husband. They both were blessed with two sons and a baby girl, the youngest.

When she was about 25 years old, however, a tragedy struck. Her husband fell ill and passed away.

Not long after the death of her husband, the new chief, who already had a wife, asked Laili–Banu for her hand in marriage, so he could look after this widow and her small children, according to the traditions.

Laili–Banu, being an independent woman, rejected the offer telling him that she was quite capable of looking after herself and her little ones.

The chief would not take no for an answer, persisted in his aim to have her, sending more and more people on his behalf to try to persuade her to become yet another one of his wives.

Laili–Banu, still strikingly beautiful, had had enough of this and departed the village community.

Laili–Banu and her three small children traveling on foot and/or on a mule, arrived in yet another village community near the Kermanshah in Kurdistan. Not long after that, she was hit with another tragedy: her oldest son Amir was bitten by a snake on the farm and did not survive.

Following the death of her son, she and her children moved further down the mountains in the southern part of Lorestan, which is the northern part of Khuzestan. All through-out, they traveled on foot and/or on a mule navigating the narrow passages of the rugged mountains and the trails in the harsh winter storms. She could have given in to the new chief’s demands; yet, she endured a terrible hardship to have her independence, freedom and the ability to raise her children as she wished.

Laili–Banu finally, at the end of her trail, settled in a village community near Shoush where she lived close to her beloved mother, brother Allah-Morad and sister Sahar–Banu.

Sanjarizadeh