Gilaki folk poetry of Fumanāt variety

The term folk poetry denotes a kind of poetry that depicts elements of the culture of common people. Gilaki folk poetry reveals much about people’s lives, such as working at home and in rice paddies, marriage, and people’s behavior. This study attempts to shed new light on oral poetry of Fumanāti variety of Gilaki based on the data collected in 2017. These poems can be classified into two main categories, namely, love poetry, and labor poetry. These songs are typically sung for two reasons: to coordinate the labor of a group of people working together, thereby improving the efficiency of the work; and to relieve the boredom of a tedious job, which improves the lives of the workers. Such cases tend to see a group of men and women work together, with a woman as the principal singer. The principal performers use their voices without musical accompaniment. Settings for these poems include the rice paddy (biǰarsər), the tea field (čayi baq), and the fruit garden (mivu baq). On the other hand, we came across some quatrains with the theme of love folk poetry, in which a conflict between a lover and a beloved is often depicted.