http://salampax.fotopages.com/ Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:30:30 GMT Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:30:30 GMT http://www.fotopages.com/images/rss_logo.gif http://shw.fotopages.com/ 40 60 today is the day of the Abolution for the Mandeans. today they all go down to the river. they call in Sibagha. it starts with the ptiests reading from their holy book called Ginzah-raba wich means the great treasure, then the men and women get in line to be baptized. after that they read some more and cook meals which they give to the poor. at 7pm they all go back to their homes and stay indoors for the next 36 hours, the story goes like this. the angels of light (heaven) came down to battle the angels of darkness (earth) it took them 12 hours to come down,12 to fight the evil and 12 to go back to the land of light. during these 36 hours there are no angels of light to protect the Mandeans, that is why they spend that time indoors. after 36 hours they go out and celebrate the Mandean new year. today in the morning I was down by the river and attended the Baptisim. lovely. and i was given a ring of Yaas (fragrant green leaves) as a present. http://salampax.fotopages.com/?entry=1967 Mon, 21 Jul 2003 00:00:00 GMT these pictures are 10 days old, they were taken while i was down south. i have spent a lot of time in Majar al-kabir and to our (mis)fortune the british decided to do a patrol while we were there when we went to Majar the next day the wouldn't talk to us because they thought we were snoops for the British. i should have an entry in the word blog about what happened in Majar the couple of times we were there. I have it in my notebook. it will be on the blog i just need to type it in. the first couple of fotos are from the first British patro; after the Majar incidents, everybody was a bit nervous and we actually walked around wearing flak vests. then a couple of days later there was a meeting in the city of Majar at the brigade's station. the british came in with brigade members from other city and they spent some time talking to the Iraqis in Majar. by this time the Brigade in Majar was complaining that the British were interogating Brigade members and beating them up during that interogation. and they were telling us about a "sniffer - shamshoom", that's what they were calling the Iraqi whom I saw go in the police station with the british. he had a Kufiah wrapped around his head and was wearing big dark sunglasses. more about that in the word blog http://salampax.fotopages.com/?entry=1533 Mon, 14 Jul 2003 00:00:00 GMT The most colorful house this side of the Tigris http://salampax.fotopages.com/?entry=445 Thu, 26 Jun 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://salampax.fotopages.com/?entry=139 Mon, 16 Jun 2003 00:00:00 GMT