TEHRAN – The traditional costume in each region reveals facts about the lifestyle, climate and belief of the residences. People in each part of Iran have different type of clothing during history.

Here is a brief description of traditional costumes of women in Ardabil, north eastern Iran.

Ardabil’s women costume is named “tuman Koynak”, which literally means skirt and dress.

As the name suggests, the clothing consists of a tuman (broomstick skirt) and koynak, which is a long loose dress.

Below the skirt is decorated with some colorful ribbons, which is called “kharj” in local language.

Koyenk is a simple long loose dress, with long sleeves. The women put on a vest on the dress, which is called jereqe in local language and its front part is decorated with coins and trimmings.

The Aradil’s women cover their hair with big scarves and cover their mouth with a part of the scarf.

They put a small hat on it. The hat resembles to a skullcap, and has two laces. The position of hat on their head and the way of tying the laces varies due to the age and marital condition of women.

According to historical researches, Ardabil is a city of great antiquity. It dates back to 4000 to 6000 years. It was the capital of Azarbaijan district in different times, but its golden age was in the Safavid period.

The city is located near many thermal springs with therapeutic virtues as well as on the main access road to the Republic of Azerbaijan. These have turned the city to a tourism center, which is visited by thousands of tourists every year.

Ardabil has several tourist attraction including several hot springs and beautiful natural landscapes. It also has many beauty lakes, which are home to various species of water birds.

The province is still strategically important with respect to tourism and trade. The city of Ardabil now is one of the most important cities of the province and Iran for its many historical monuments, specially the Safavid family’s mausoleums and tombs.


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