Zandabad

Zandabad is a village in Owch Hacha Rural District of the Central District of Ahar County, East Azerbaijan province, Iran.

Etymology
The village was originally called Samadia, but this name was changed to Zandabad by the proposal of the Iranian Academy and several khanate in 1936.

Language
The majority of the village's population are Azerbaijani. Today, the predominant language spoken in Samadia is Azerbaijani Turkic, which belongs to the Turkic languages family. Azerbaijani is a member of Oghuz branch of Turkic language, and it is closely related to Turkish and Turkmeni. The modern Azerbaijani language is evolved from the Eastern Oghuz dialect of Western (Oghuz) Turkic, which spread to Southwestern Asia during medieval Turkic migrations and was heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic.

Religion
The majority of the population are followers of Shia Islam.

Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the village's population was 1,104 in 224 households. The following census in 2011 counted 633 people in 166 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the village as 975 people in 298 households. It was the most populous village in its rural district.

Geography
Samadia is a mountainous and temperate zone.

Economy
The village's main export is cereal. People live on agriculture and cattle. Crafting kilim is also a common source of income.

Music
The popular music is played by Ashik that play the Saz or Qopuz, a form of lute. Their songs are partly improvised around a common base.

Cuisine
Some traditional Zandabad dishes are:

Ash is a soup prepared with bouillon, various vegetables, carrot, noodle and spices.

Dolma is a traditional Azerbaijani food. It is prepared with eggplant, capsicum, tomato or zucchini filled with a mixture of meat, split pea, onion and various spices.

Attractions
There are many sights in Samadia, including:


 * Səmədiyə daşı, an epigraph
 * Şeyvər mountain, the highest mountain in the village