The Shi‘i Islamic tradition of Nazri—votive food offered during religious ceremonies, particularly in Muharram—has long been an expression of devotion to the martyred Imams, commemorated through communal meals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions on gatherings led many Shi‘i organizations to shift their Nazri practices online. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews, this paper examines the emergence of the digital votive in pandemic-era Shi‘i Iran, where meaning-making, meal consumption, and prayer intertwined with virtual space.
This study explores how digital platforms, particularly social media and interactive apps, both constrained and redefined communal sacred eating, fostering an ephemeral online religious community of mourning. It also examines supplemental eating, where one devotee symbolically eats on behalf of another, replicating votive consumption across digital and physical realms. Ultimately, this paper argues that while digital votive practices lack physical immediacy, they extend and reimagine the votive meal, shaping new forms of participation in religious remembrance.