Varkaneh Village

Placed on the hillside of Alvand Mountain, Varkaneh Village is located in the southern part of the middle Zagros Mountain Range, in the east of Arzanfard River, 20 kilometers southeast of Hamedan. Varkaneh word consists of Var or Bar which means “near” or “next to” plus Kaneh which means “water spring”; they mean “next to spring” together. Its history backs to four centuries ago in Safavid era. The name of this village has been included in the list of Iran National Heritages. 

Varkaneh is placed at height of 2250 meters above sea level in the heart of the mountains, reaching Shamsabad village and Aliabad village from the north, Sardarreh Mountain from the northeast, Simin and Abroo village from the west, Sorkh Belaq Mountain from the southwest, Qara Dag Mountain from the east, Barani Valley and Qeshlaq Valley from the south and southeast. Verkane village is in the Quaternary Formation with granite, shale and schist rocks and it goes back to the Mesozoic and Jurassic geological periods up to 160 million years ago.

The original foundation of Varkaneh village has been extended around a series of Qanats. Narrow allies and dense houses sitting close together with stone walls protect other houses against the mountainous ground, blowing wind which is named Isfahani Wind in the local dialect and against a cold weather reaching below zero in the winter. There are four kinds of houses in Varkaneh: long, broken, bent and with Miansara (yard). 

Most of houses enjoy the southern sunlight. Store and stable is this rural structure are placed in the ground floor and the living part including rooms, Ivan and staircase are placed in the upper floor. Rooms are short in height. Roofs are even made of wooden boards or thatch. Designing corridor (Dalan and Hashti) is popular in broken houses. The houses are made of stone, adobe and brick although the main material is stone. This method of using materials in construction of rural houses in Varkaneh indicates an environment-friendly structure and green architecture. 

People of Varkaneh are mostly occupied with agriculture, animal husbandry and making handicrafts. Plants like wheat, barely, pea, beans, potato, walnut, pomegranate, apricot and apple are cultivated in Varkaneh. Meal, wool and milk products are also by-products of animal husbandry. 

Music is here is reputed as Sarbāzi and Sepā which is played along with Baba Tahir couplets and Azeri Bayaties as well as Azerbaijani Ashiq Music. Plays like Walnut Game, Qap Game, Alak o Dolak are popular here. Abgusht, different kins of Kebab and Ash such as Omaj, Petela, Vareh, Barely, and Tarkhineh are cooked here. Varkaneh is the passage of Qezel Yusef, Yarem Taghloo and Varkani nomads who start their immigration in October every year. One of the main characteristics of the village is horse breeding.