|
In Kurdistan, Wishes and Laughter
23.9.2008
|
|
|
September
23, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region "Iraq", —
This is the place women come to make wishes.
It is a holy shrine in Erbil province, in the
mountains of Kurdistan. Muslims call it Sheik Wsu
Rahman, while Christians know it as Raban Buya. Once
a hiding place for people fleeing religious
persecution, it now has a picnic area at the bottom
and a steep, zigzagging path to a high cave where
four women who have just made the ascent are trying
to catch their breath before beginning a series of
tasks. |
 |
They all have wishes to
make, but Ajeen Isamel, 15, is the main reason they
are here.
"She was married four months ago," says Hasiba Siad,
43, Ajeen's mother-in-law. "We want a baby boy."
Fertility is the wish of most of the shrine's
pilgrims.
Nazinine Hassan, 44, slides her sheer white scarf
from her head and crumples it into a ball, which
quickly loosens as she tosses it into the air. The
first task required at the shrine is to throw a head
scarf through a natural archway in the cave.
Nazinine,www.ekurd.net
whose husband was killed
five years ago while he was fighting for the pesh
merga, the Kurdish army, wishes for money and a way
to support herself. After two tries, the scarf
catches briefly on a rock, then drops down on the
other side. Success.
Next, the women duck into a smaller cave, slipping
on the wax-covered ground. They light tall, thin
candles and stick them onto a rock ledge with
melting wax, then carefully leave the cave backward
-- the key to this second task. Niaz Muhammed, 27,
leads the way, teaching Ajeen the ritual. Also a war
widow, Niaz wishes to be married again.
The third step is completed only by Ajeen and is the
most important one for luck in conceiving a child.
She climbs to the top of an angled rock, worn smooth
by decades of childless women,www.ekurd.net
and lies on her stomach.
Head and hands first, she slides down the rock into
the arms of the three older women, who cackle and
fall back under her weight. Ajeen slides down twice
more without saying a word.
As their laughter dies down, all four women search
for small stones on the floor of the cave. Hasiba is
the most focused, almost competitive, as she looks
for the 14 stones needed for the final task. Seven
are thrown to a high, man-made hole on one side of
the cave and seven into a hole on the opposite side,
facing the entrance.
Hasiba, yet another war widow, has breast cancer.
Her wish is for good health, she says, before
throwing a stone.
And for a car.
Washington Post photographer Andrea Bruce is
documenting the lives of people in Iraq in a
feature, Unseen Iraq, appearing regularly in the
World pages. For a photo gallery and previous
columns, visit http://blog.washpost.com/unseen-iraq.
Copyright, respective author or news agency,
washingtonpost com
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 