Sivandi

The Sivandis are the people of Sivand, a large village in Marvdasht County of Fars province, between Pasargadae and Persepolis, who speak Sivandi, a Northwestern Iranian language. It is a linguistic island: surrounded on every side by Persian and other Southwestern Iranian speech, Sivandi belongs with the Central Plateau languages of the Kashan-Isfahan region and shares with Khuri and Farvi the rare change of old *hw to f (Proto-Iranian hwahar 'sister' becomes far). How a Northwestern Iranian community came to live in the heart of ancient Persis is unknown; local writers call the Sivandis 'remnants of ancient Iran' and compare their speech with Gilaki, Mazandarani and Laki. The German Iranist Wilhelm Eilers documented the dialect in 'Die Mundart von Sivänd'. Sivand had about 6,000 people in 1950 and 3,130 in 2006; Ethnologue counts about 7,000 speakers including those who have moved to Shiraz, Marvdasht and Tehran, while other estimates put fluent speakers near 3,000.

Sivand sits in the Polvar valley amid orchards and pastures, surrounded by Achaemenid and earlier archaeological sites; villagers take pride in living on the old royal road between Pasargadae and Persepolis. Sivandi men were historically herders and caravan muleteers (charvadar), and many today are truck drivers, carrying on the transport tradition. Women have traditionally held a respected and visible role in village life, and carpet weaving, pottery and other crafts survive but are declining. Village customs include the old 'tek-tekak' rite on the eve of Chaharshanbe Suri, the fire festival before Nowruz, together with Nowruz visits, weddings with local music, and Muharram mourning. A community blog teaches Sivandi in numbered lessons and keeps a bibliography of the language, reflecting worry that intermarriage with outsiders, schooling in Persian and emigration of the young will end the language within a few generations.

Sivandis are Twelver Shia like their Persian neighbours, observing Muharram, Ramadan and the shrine and vow customs of rural Fars. Local identity also embraces the pre-Islamic past: community writers stress Sivand's place in the Achaemenid heartland and its 'Zoroastrian era', and Chaharshanbe Suri and Nowruz rites are celebrated with special enthusiasm. No study of Sivandi religious life or of secularisation among emigrants was found.

No Scripture, JESUS Film or other Christian media exist in Sivandi; Joshua Project's language data list Global Recordings Network audio as available, though no specific Sivandi recording was confirmed. All Sivandis speak Persian fluently, so Persian Bibles, satellite television and online ministries are fully accessible. No known believers; IMB records no evangelicals and the group as unengaged.