Gilaki, Gilani

The Gilaks (Gilak, Gil, Gilani; Persian گیلک) are the native people of the southwestern Caspian lowland and the forested northern slopes of the Alborz in Iran. Classical authors place the Gelae south of the Caspian by the 2nd century BCE, and the mountain hinterland was Daylam, homeland of the Daylamites whose Buyid and Ziyarid dynasties ruled much of Iran in the 10th century. Gilan kept its own local rulers until the Safavids annexed it at the end of the 16th century, and in the 20th century Mirza Kuchak Khan's Jangal (forest) movement made Gilan a symbol of regional resistance. Genetic studies link Gilak paternal lineages to South Caucasus populations, and Georgians, Circassians and Armenians settled in Gilan in the Safavid to Qajar eras were absorbed. Gilaki is a Northwestern Iranian language of the Caspian group, closest to Mazandarani. It divides into Western Gilaki (Rasht, Fuman, Sowme'eh Sara, Anzali) and Eastern Gilaki (Lahijan, Langarud, Rudsar, Ramsar, Tonekabon), separated by the Sefid Rud, plus the Galeshi speech of mountain herders. Gilaks traditionally recognised three strata: lowland rice farmers, upland farmers and Galesh pastoralists; the Galesh have their own entry (galeshi). Estimates of the ethnic population run from 3 to 4.6 million, but native speakers number about 1.6 million (2023), as many urban families have shifted to Persian.

Gilak life is shaped by a humid green landscape of rice paddies, tea gardens and forest. Traditional houses are of timber and brick raised on posts, with steep tiled or thatched roofs and verandas against the rain. Cuisine is rice-based, with smoked and fresh Caspian fish, garlic, sour pomegranate and herbs: mirza ghasemi, baqala ghatogh, torsh-e tareh and Gilani fesenjan. Women have long worked visibly in rice transplanting, tea picking and markets, and ethnographers note egalitarian trends and relatively relaxed gender relations; women's cooperative work groups in rice cultivation are well documented. Gileh-mardi wrestling in earthen rings is the signature rural sport. Festive traditions include Nowruz-khani (heralds singing spring songs door to door), Chaharshanbe Suri, the Arus Guleh wedding play and Gilaki folk songs and dances such as the Galesh dance. Women's Rashti dress (colourful pleated skirts and embroidered vests) and Rasht qollab-duzi embroidery are distinctive crafts. Gilaki is the language of home and village; Persian dominates school, media and government, and young urban speakers code-switch heavily.

Gilaks are overwhelmingly Twelver Shia. Muharram mourning, Ashura processions, visits to the many imamzadeh shrines of the Caspian provinces and vows (nazr) are central to religious life. Folk practice blends pre-Islamic seasonal rites (Nowruz-khani, fire-jumping at Chaharshanbe Suri, rain and harvest customs) with Shia piety. Urban Gilan has a relaxed social climate and national surveys point to a large nominal or secular segment, though no Gilan-specific figures exist. Younger, educated Gilaks are the most secular. A small number have become Christians, mostly through Persian-language media and, since 2024, Gilaki Scripture.

Korpu began translating the Gilaki New Testament in 1998 and dedicated it in January 2024 as one of 12 new minority-language New Testaments for Iran. In 2024 Transform Iran completed a dramatized audio New Testament with traditional Gilaki music and began Old Testament books. The Jesus Film and Global Recordings Network audio are listed as available. Through the translation and review process alone, dozens of Gilaks were reported to have come to faith. Armenian Christians historically lived in Rasht and Bandar-e Anzali, but they do not reach Gilaks, and Muslim-background believers are few and meet secretly.

Galesh (gālesh, 'cattle-keeper') are the upland herders of the Gilan and Mazandaran Alborz. They move their cattle between winter pastures (qeshlaq) in the lowlands and summer meadows (yeylaq) such as Eshkevarat above Rudsar and the forests behind Tonekabon, typically keeping 20 to 50 cattle per family plus sheep, and they live in timber 'telar' houses with separate living, dairy and stable rooms. Traditionally the men stayed with the herds while wives and children lived in the villages. Their Galeshi speech holds many herding and dairy words unknown to the rice farmers; the Gilaki Galeshi of eastern Gilan and western Mazandaran differs from the Tabari Galeshi of central Mazandaran. The Galesh share language, Shia Islam and culture with the lowland Gilaks and differ above all in livelihood; they are a related group with their own entry (galeshi). Forest laws that evicted herders from the Hyrcanian forest, and modernisation, threaten both the lifestyle and the dialect, though the spring cattle migrations remain a celebrated sight in Gilan.