The present research proposal aims to suggest and explore the possible function of the Iranian state television in providing a new meaning to the pilgrimage phenomenon of "Arba'een March". Arba'een March starts a few days before the 20th day of Safar (Arabic lunar calendar), and refers to a long pilgrimage by feet to Karbala , where the holy shrine of Imam Hussein is located. During recent years, Arba'een March has tremendously been under the focus of the Iranian media. This attention was first evoked by the unprecedented huge number of about 20 million marching pilgrims to Karbala in 2013. Many have attributed such a growth in the number of the walking pilgrims to the participation of millions of Shiite Iranians, who, after the departure of the U.S troops from Iraq in 2011, found the realization of their religious animus unprecedentedly facilitated. Applying a hermeneutical approach to the programs broadcasted in Iranian national television about Arba'een March, this research investigates other possible non-religious motives of the Iranian pilgrims to participate in Arba'een March. In other words, we seek to find whether, after a few years of the broadcast of news and programs about Arba'een March in Iranian television, religious intentions are still the only true motive for the Iranian pilgrims to perform this pilgrimage. What can be said about the function of the television programs in providing other (secular/political) meanings to Arba'een March? To find possible answers to these questions, one may also need to consider the rare cases of international non-religious participations in Arb'een March, which are occasionally reverberated in the Iranian mass media. The consideration of the non-religious intentions of those international participants could contribute to the assertion of our main thesis that Arba'een March, even for the religious pilgrims, is turning from an act of pilgrimage with mere spiritual intentions into - at least- a half secular, half religious pilgrimage. In this study, a qualitative media content analysis method will be conducted . As already mentioned, we will focus only on Iranian state television , as it has the most social impact inside Iran.

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