Zār

"Zār" or "Zaar" (زار) is a pagan religious custom, apparently originating in central Ethiopia during the eighteenth century, later spreading throughout East and North Africa.Citation|last=Natvig|first=Richard|title=Liminal Rites and Female Symbolism in the Egyptian Zar Possession Cult|journal=Numen|volume=35|issue=1|month=July|year=1988|pages=57-68|doi=10.2307/3270140] By the middle of the nineteenth century, Ethiopian slaves had introduced Zār into Southwest Asia. Zār custom involves the possession of an individual (usually female) by a spirit. Also practised in Egypt, South Iran [Modarressi, Taghi. 1968. The zar cult in south Iran. In Trance and possession states, ed. Raymond Prince.Montreal: R.M. Bucke Memorial Society] and elsewhere within the MIddle East.

A featured musical instrument in the Zār ritual is the "tanbura", a six-string lyre, which, like the Zār practice itself, exists in various forms in an area stretching from East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.NewGrove2001|Tanbūra|Poché, Christian|xxv|62-63] Other instruments include the "mangour", a leather belt sewn with many goat hooves, and various percussion instruments.

The Zaar cult served as a refuge for women and effeminate men in conservative, Muslim-dominated Sudan.

ee also

* Mazaher
* Fann at-Tanbura

References

*Fakhouri, Hani. "The Zar Cult in an Egyptian Village." "Anthropological Quarterly", vol. 41, no. 2 (April 1968), pp. 49-56.
*Seligmann, Brenda Z. "On the Origin of the Egyptian Zar." "Folklore", vol. 25, no. 3 (September 30, 1914), pp. 300-323.
* [http://aalsafi.tripod.com/tm/management/possession.htm The zar and the tumbura cults] ]