Garga'oon 2014

Every year, 2 weeks before Ramadan, there's an event called "Garga'oon." Each house has candy and the kids go house to house to get some! They say "Nasifa Hallawah" when they come to the door.

Our kids get it mixed up with Halloween, but we think it's very different. For Halloween they get dressed up as characters or something else, but for Garga'oon the boys wear button up shirts and the girls wear traditional dresses. Here's a picture of Joseph and Faith dressed and ready with their Garga'oon bags.

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April with Arabs

I'm not sure how, but April ended up being a particularly busy month. It was really good and I'm thankful to look back and recognize that God blessed us in so many ways!

I had so many opportunities to be with my friends in the village this month. It seemed like I was leaving the house wearing my hijab (head covering) a lot. I ended up going to several weddings and even a funeral.

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Visiting Arabs w/ Tim's Parents

When our Arab friends heard that Tim's parents were coming they were excited to meet them! It was good for Tim's parents to get to experience Arab hospitality and meet some friends in our village.

The first half of their time here was still mourning time for our friends in the village. So, they came with us experience the mourning. When we go to a mourning service we need to dress respectfully and the ladies have to cover our heads.

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Eid Week

"Eid" is the Arabic word for holiday, festival, or celebration. One of the major holidays that they have is called "Eid Al Fitir," which means celebration of breaking the fast. It's right after Ramadan. This is a special time of visiting! I was busy visiting for 4 days, which was wonderful and exhausting! But I loved it!! I didn't end up taking a lot of pictures during this time because I was working hard to speak and understand Arabic.

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Garga'oon

Sunday night was Garga'oon in our village! It's a celebration of one of their imams and everyone in the village gets involved. Many houses are decorated for this event!

Every house prepares candy and treats for the kids. All of the kids and even lots of adults go house to house filling their bags with the treats! Some people say that it's like halloween in the States, but it feels really different for us. No one dresses up like characters. The children dress up in new clothes and the younger ones wear traditional clothes.

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Village Events

Sometimes I join my friends for religious readings or religious weddings in the village. Joseph has gotten too big to be with the ladies, but Faith still loves to come with me! She loves to drink tea and eat treats! She's gotten really good at greeting the ladies and they love it!

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Month of Mourning

We are almost through the month of mourning that our Shia friends have each year. We've spent time being in our village and sitting with our friends during this time of mourning. We wore black out of respect for them.

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Thankfulness for Eid

I'm thankful to be able to participate in the Eid celebrations in our village! There are two main holidays that our Muslim friends celebrate. One is right after Ramadan. Which took place in August. I blogged about it here.

The other is right after Hajj. Both Eids include getting dressed up and enjoying special food, much like we do for our holidays! There's lots of visiting going on during this time!

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Eid Visiting

There is a holiday after Ramadan called "Eid Al Fitr." Eid means holiday...the word is not a religious word unless you're celebrating something religious.

Eid is a very big deal for our Muslim friends because there are only two each year. It's as big as Christmas is for us. So, they spend a lot of time preparing for this holiday. They have a lot of shopping to do for special food and for new clothes. It's very important to wear new clothes for the holidays and for the little girls to be matching! Very fun! 

The women visit with the women; and the men visit with the men. There isn't any mixed gender visiting. So, the kids and I got dressed up and went visiting without Tim. 

The kids enjoyed saying, "Eid Mubarak" because when they did people would hand them money! 

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Garga'oon

Friday night was Garga'oon (قرقاعون) also called Nasifa (ناصفة), which is the half-way mark of Ramadan. Not all Muslim countries celebrate this.

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Mowlid

In the last couple of weeks there have been a lot of Mowlids at the Hussainias in the village. I have enjoyed being with my friends in the village during these days of celebrating! This is a picture of the place where the men gather. The women have separate places.

Remembrance is something that is very important in Shia Islam. They hold commemeration ceremonies by gathering together and reciting stories. A Mowlid is when they celebrate the birth of prophets or imams, even ladies from the family of their prophet Mohammed.

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black gloves

This week I bought black gloves. I have seen some very conservative ladies wear them with their abaayas, but I never thought I'd have any.

The thing is that I got henna on Wednesday. I went to a friend's house in the village so she could do my henna. During this time my friend told me that another friend's grandmother had died the night before. So there would be three days of mourning in the village.

But, right away I knew that I couldn't show up to sit with the family with henna on my hands. You only get henna when you're happy or celebrating.

So, I bought gloves out of respect for a mourning family.

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Wedding Time!

It's officially wedding season around here! I love weddings on this side of the world! Over the last few weeks Tim and I have been to several weddings.

It's such an important part of the culture here, but it's so totally different than the way we do weddings in the States. One of the biggest differences is that the men and women have separate wedding parties. The men's party and the women's party can even be held weeks apart from each other!

This picture was taken when we got home from the wedding around 11:30pm. Joseph said, "Daddy, take our picture! We're married now!"

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Pretty Henna Hands

The day after shelling the shrimp, I went to the same friends' house and got henna on my hands! After handling the slimy seafood, it felt so good to have pretty hands!

I have blogged about henna before. You can see that blog post if you click here. 

I was so excited to find a friend who does henna in the village that I live close to. It takes me 5 minutes to get to her house. I hope that I will be able to go back to get henna many times! Let me know if you want to come visit and get henna with me! 

Here's a couple of pictures of the fresh henna on my hands: 

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blessings in January

January has been a very full month for our family in so many ways! But it's always a blessing to walk through life together as a couple! We are thankful to be able to share this life together!!

We've both made some new goals for this year and we're looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2012! We have started a new Bible reading plan and have enjoyed doing this together...what a privilege it is to have a husband that longs to know God and His word more and more!

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mourning

Our Arab friends have been mourning since the end of November and it will continue through January. They are mourning the deaths of the family of their prophet Mohammed.

The first 10 days were a very intense time of gathering together to listen to readings. The men would march through the streets broadcasting a lamenting story of the martyrdom of Hussein, Mohammed's grandson. There was a drum too, which really added to the mournful feeling.

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blending in with the locals

The first 10 days of Muharram are very important. No one eats their meals at home...everyone gathers together and eats rice and meat together. There were many evenings that I spent in the village with the ladies. It was a great time to get to know people!

I had to wear this Abaaya. Actually, this is a specific kind of Abaaya that my friends call a Difa. Everyone in the village has one of these.

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Farm

Last week we went to a farm with one of Tim's students. It was fun for the kids to see the animals and it honored Tim's student. It was so different than what we normally picture for an animal farm. We saw dogs, horses, sheep, birds, a cat, and a monkey!

Joseph's favorite part was playing fetch with one of the dogs! See video and pictures below.

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What is a village?

We live in a country that has a lot of little villages. My idea of a village is different than the villages here.

It is about the size of a neighborhood, sometimes bigger. But it's very dense with families. Often times when a son gets married the father will build an apartment above the house for the couple to live in.

These villages are all close to each other, not out in the middle of nowhere. This picture of our village shows the city in the background. The city center is only about 15 to 20 minutes away.

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Names

Names are a big deal here in the Middle East. It’s always a great conversation starter when I ask someone where his or her name came from. They like to hear our names, especially our children’s names. Women are not quick to share their names, but it's easy to talk about the children's names. 

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