Harkous!!!

I went to a lovely wedding this past weekend in NE Tunisia, in the town of Kélibia, which is rumored to have the best, calmest, clearest beaches in the country. I didn't swim though - I partied.

And I got harkous on my ankle, with a small eye - to ward off the "evil eye," which is based on the idea that: you may have something (success, beauty, money, nice clothes, etc.) that someone else desires, and if they look at you with the "evil eye," the eye of jealousy & envy, they may wish something bad upon you, even w.o. necessarily knowing it.

My favorite example of this is a friend who used to play soccer and had nice, muscular legs. He came home one day from practice and his neighbor was sitting in the kitchen chatting w. his mom. The neighbor said to him, "Oh my, you have such nice legs!" Then my friend went upstairs, climbed into the shower, slipped and broke his leg! His mother later told him that when the neighbor said that, she knew it wasn't good - that the neighbor was thinking to herself, "I wish my husband, or my son had legs like his!" So though it doesn't necessarily suggest a voluntary act of evil on the part of the evil eye giver (the neighbor, in this case!), it does mean that it behooves people to not ostentatiously display their good fortune, and to always remind people that God gives good & takes it. All is from God.

So, a young woman getting married may have good reason to have an eye on her ankle for protection, which is probably why the older woman who did the harkous offered it as a design. [Or, on second thought, considering that these days it is considered by some a little "backwards" to believe in the evil eye, it could also be a transformation (commodification!) of a formerly powerful symbol into a fashion & culture statement (look at this nice design that our grandparents used to use!).]

Here's a picture.

Unfortunately, I've had an allergic reaction to the harkous (whatever is in it - a website tells me cloves and incense & orpiment...hmmm, not sure!), and I have raised itchy bumps underneath every spot of the design. The pharmacist sold me a small tube of calming cream today - hopefully it works. An esthetician I had met earlier in the afternoon at the DVD store told me that if I'm not careful, I can have a small scar (not permanent, but lasts for a while), and that I can never do harkous again. So thank God I took a picture.

Pouring down rain!

It's pouring down rain, and when it rains like this the streets sometimes overflow! So I think I'll miss the showing of the US film "Amreeka," by Palestinian-American director Cherien Dabis. It looks wonderful! Definitely go see it if you can.

http://amreeka.com/

Ramadan is over and life is back to normal!

Hi all!

So Ramadan lasted from mid-August to mid-September this year, and I was present for half of it (went home to help take care of my mom after her shoulder surgery for the other half!). I am consistently amazed by the ability of Muslims - those who would consider themselves very practicing and those who may be more like "cafeteria Catholics" - to fast all day. This means no eating or drinking from sunrise to sunset.

I attempted to ease into the fast, which I thought wouldn't be too formidable of a task since I did fast for two or three days during last year's Ramadan. I "eased" into it by doing a 'half-fast,' drinking water during the day (though sparingly in general) and eating only before sun-up and after sundown. This meant that, like all of my neighbors, I would rise around 3:45 AM and take the "sehour," or the morning meal, which normally consisted (for me) of bread and cheese, fruit and yogurt. Then I wouldn't eat until about 7 PM, when the call to prayer rose from the minaret of the mosque near my house and the canon, announcing the breaking of the fast, blasted loudly from downtown Tunis. The first two days were pretty darn difficult, and my whole body ached and felt fatigued. It got easier though, as many Tunisians assured me it would. Unfortunately though, my fast couldn't continue: the change proved too drastic for my body to handle, and so after numerous visits to the pharmacy, I quit the fast after a week. Perhaps a less drastic "easing into" of the fasting schedule may have allowed me to actually fast for the time I was there, eventually even giving up water.

Why fast? Because fasting is a religious experiences. The Saints fasted; Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu mystics fasted. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin advised fasting. And especially because some of my Tunisian friends tell me that they feel they reach spiritual heights during the month of Ramadan, which is largely spent in prayer, with family, in food preparation, and in contemplation of how much something so basic can mean when you don't have it.

InshAllah next year. But Easter will come first.