The Funeral

A neighbor died.  She lived in my apartment building and was ailing.  Her death was not unexpected, and though sad, it is remarkable the way in which Azerbaijanis, following their rich traditions and culture, honor--indeed celebrate--the passing of life from this world into the next, as those at the celebration explained to me.  She was the wife of a dear old gentleman who works occasionally at the institute, and who every time he sees me greets me in German.  He knows a few phrases, more than he knows in English.  Besides, I think he thinks I am German!  Since last summer, all of us in the building knew it was only time before his wife would die.  She passed away late last Friday afternoon around 6 PM, and since it was close to sundown, she was not buried until Saturday.  According to Muslim tradition, a body should be buried the same day, unless it is too late in the day--then the body is buried the next day.  Only males accompany the body to the cemetery for burial, female relatives gather at the home of the deceased.

On the third day after the death, known as üç--3, for the third day, the funeral celebration takes place.  In recent years, this has become quite elaborate in Azerbaijan.  Knowing she was going to die, and having recently been to a funeral celebration herself, where she could not fully partake in the frenzied mourning, crying, and wailing that women mourners do, she made it known to her family members, that she did not want the typical "crying ceremony".  Traditionally, men and women gather separately, each with a mollah to conduct the crying ceremonies--a male mollah for male mourners and a female mollah for the women.  During the ceremonies passages from the Qoran are recited and sung by the presiding mollah, gradually increasing in frenzy, until all present are fully engulfed in mourning.  Because these ceremonies are conducted in the deceased's home or in an event tent set up outside the home, there is often not enough room for all mourners at once.  Consequently, mourners continue to rotate through, throughout the day, with the mollah remaining and conducting the ceremonies until all mourners have been accommodated.

The third day funeral celebration always consists of a meal of typical Azerbaijani dishes for all mourners.  Since my neighbor did not wish to have the crying ceremony conducted, all those who attended the third day funeral celebration skipped that part and gathered straight away for the meal in one of the event tents that had been set up in the playground/parking area directly behind our apartment building.  The entire day a catering service supplied on-going food service.  Together with my neighbor and good friend Gulnaz, I entered the meal tent set up for the women.  Male mourners had their own tent.  At the head table sat the female relatives of the deceased and the female mollah.  The tent easily held over 100, and once all the tables were filled, we were served tea and sweets (this typically starts a meal), then plates of fresh herbs, pickled red and white cabbages, and a stew of potatoes and beef, copious amounts of fresh white bread, followed by more tea and sweets.  Roaming through the tent was a woman with a special decanter, sprinkling those who wished with special water for washing the hands and face.  Once most were finished eating, the mollah began singing a few appropriate phrases and the female mourners prayed, giving thanks for the meal by raising their open hands sky-ward and then brushing their faces with the palms of their hands.  We paid our respects to the head table by wishing the daughter of the deceased:  Allah rəhmət eləsin...basically, rest in peace.  We were in the event tent for the meal for about an hour, and as we were leaving, the caterers were hurriedly setting up for more mourners to attend.  This went on all day long, as groups of mourners filed through the event tents to partake of the funeral meal.  The mollah and family members remain throughout.

 Funeral event tents for the funeral celebration meal, set up on the playground/parking area behind my building.  White tent for female mourners, blue for male mourners.

 Catering trucks arrive to dismantle the tents used for preparing the funeral meals and for the guests partaking.

The elaborately celebrated funeral meal, complete with fully catered event tents, is quite costly.  And this woman was prominently known throughout the town, so many hundreds gathered throughout the day to eat the funeral meal, as part of the third day funeral celebration.  Consequently, most who attend pay for their meals, whatever they can afford to pay, and a booklet is passed around for those in attendance to record how much they have donated to pay for their funeral meal.  For the catering businesses in town it is big business, second only to wedding celebrations, which are even more elaborately and more expensively attended.
Common in Azerbaijan are the yearly celebrations marking the anniversary of the passing of a loved one and family member.  For such occasions families gather every year, for many years, to celebrate with each other and with the traditional Azerbaijani foods.  I think it is a memorable tradition, and is a way of continuously honoring the one who has passed away and offering on-going support to the close surviving family members.  Well, I will hold onto these thoughts on Feb. 20th--that will mark the 3rd year anniversary of the passing of my dear Bill.  <3

On Sunday I had a nice hike up to the Mingachevir Reservoir...and was surprised at the local refugee woman, who was shooing her cows to the edge of the reservoir, so they could get a drink.  It was an interesting sight.

The Holidays

The Holidays:

Every Peace Corps Volunteer accrues several days per month of service for vacation, and so it was that in December and January I took several vacations, the first to Germany for Christmas and then to Georgia (Azerbaijan’s neighbor to the Northwest) for New Years.

I delighted in visiting friends I have known most of my life in Cologne, Mulheim, and Dusseldorf.  Especially interesting were the Christmas Markets set up in the center of Cologne near the majestic Cologne cathedral, offering specialty items to eat and drink, and varieties of hand-made Christmas decorations.  The traditional Christmas Markets are truly festive, even in the unseasonably warm weather and mild rain, which we experienced.  Christmas Eve no less brought record high temperatures in some parts of Germany.  We visited relatives and enjoyed festive meals, but the traditional Christmas Eve goose dinner, complete with red cabbage and potatoes was especially fantastic.  On Christmas Day we attended special Christmas mass in the Cologne cathedral with the Archbishop, Cardinal Meisner, delivering the Christmas message.  The choir and the pomp were quite impressive.  The next few days involved visiting more old friends and their families. And thanks to my German friends I brought back to Azerbaijan some German chocolates and stollen cake to share with Azeri English teachers here.

 CHRISTMAS MARKET AT THE COLOGNE CATHEDRAL

CHRISTMAS EVE AT FRIEND INGE'S, ADMIRING CHRISTMAS TREE WITH REAL CANDLES

 CHRISTMAS EVE GOOSE DINNER

TABLE SET WITH ADVENT WREATH

 CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE COLOGNE CATHEDRAL

                    

Interestingly, Germans are also curious about my Peace Corps service in Azerbaijan, and most were aware of the fact that the Eurovision Song Contest took place last May in Baku.  They remembered some of the television footage of Baku and wondered if the rest of Azerbaijan was like Baku…well, not exactly, I had to truthfully answer—it is after all a Peace Corps country.

They asked about my work, and I described some of the ways in which I promote community economic development and the advancement of teaching English as a second language.  I told them it is remarkable the level of enthusiasm on the part of some of the better English teachers to improve their skills, especially since they have little or no opportunity to travel outside the country to practice their English with native English speakers; hence they try their best to take advantage of my training programs and my assistance.  However, I told my German friends, how much an English teacher (almost always a woman) is able to actively pursue career development is dependent upon her husband.  In Azerbaijan, a woman must traditionally adhere to what her husband allows—she can only work, if he allows it, and only as much or as often as he allows.  Recently, one English teacher wanted to meet an extra day per week to practice English and improve skills, only to have her husband deny her the opportunity.  In the course of discussing this I discovered from my German friends that until the 1970’s it was the law in then West Germany, too, that a woman could not work without the permission of her husband.  Well, when a society removes such restrictions on half its population perhaps it has a positive result in economic development, since Germany has definitely become one of the strongest of economies and even has a female head of state, arguably one of the world’s powerful political figures.  Angela Merkel serves as the Chancellor of Germany with her husband’s blessing, I am sure, but she did not need to get his permission first.

Members of the younger generation in Germany were almost incredulous that once Germany had such a law, forbidding a woman to work without the permission of her husband.  But then one young German man asked me, why would a man even want to forbid such things of a wife, and why would he want to have such control over a woman.  I tried to explain that it is traditional in Azerbaijan, and ostensibly the man’s responsibility to protect his wife (and other female family members).  Since he carries the burden of her safety and her reputation--and the family's reputation, it is the man’s duty to decide what is right and best for her.  In turn, this supposedly allows Azeri women to be “free” of responsibility for many things, since decision-making (and subsequent mistakes) is to be carried by male family members, as long as the wife obeys the husband.  The young German man thought for a moment and replied, he would never want to have such a huge responsibility and burden—for one thing, he said, it is too much work to carry that responsibility, and it would impinge on his freedom, too, as a result.  He said, “Give me a wife who can make her own decisions for herself.  She will certainly be smart enough to know what is best for her, and that will allow me to be free of such a huge responsibility; besides, I would probably make the wrong decisions for her.  It is best that we both have freedom of choice and decision-making—both the man and the woman.”  Hmmm, some food for thought, though several generations ago a young German male might not have had such progressive attitudes as today’s German young people.  Societal norms always seem to be in an on-going state of flux.  What winds of change will blow in Azerbaijan’s direction for coming generations?

 VISITING GERMAN FRIENDS

New Year’s was spent in Tbilisi, Georgia, a town with a very definitely old-world charm.  And wonderful food!  The Georgian bread boat filled with cheese and egg, or cheese and vegetables, is delicious.  The bread itself is baked in a tandoor oven in local basement bakeries.

Tbilisi has what seems to be a church on every other corner--and hilltop, ancient Georgian Orthodox churches, resplendent with colorful frescoes and icons.  And one large cathedral, north of Tbilisi, a UNESCO heritage site completely surrounded by a fortress, serves as the spiritual center of Georgian Orthodoxy and was the Eastern most outpost of Christianity for centuries.

 

                            

             

 

                                 

 

           

                        

I and my Peace Corps travelling buddies made friendship with an American Fulbright student, who showed us around, helped us order meals (the Georgian alphabet looks like a series of curley-ques, to the uneducated quite indecipherable), and she even took us to the baths to experience the traditional sulfur scrub.  What a great way to usher in 2013!

NEW YEAR'S EVE AT FREEDOM SQUARE, TBLISI, GEORGIA

January is also the month for an important Azerbaijani holiday, albeit solemn and sad--Black January marks the time 23 years ago, when Soviet troops rolled into Baku squelching uprisings, which upon reflection marks the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.  The martyrs of those street battles are honored all over Azerbaijan in cemetery ceremonies commemorating the events and honoring the fallen heroes.

A major event this January has been the Peace Corps Mid-Service Conference.  What a great event this was, leaving me enthused for the months of work that yet lie ahead.  My grant proposal was successful, we came in under budget, and even all the governmental forms don’t seem all that daunting.  The last few weeks have even been rather mild compared to last winter’s freeze, so all is going well.  To the entire experience, I can only say: what an honor, privilege, and opportunity!

MID-SERVICE CONFERENCE FOR AZ9 PCV'S (AND A FEW EXCEPTIONAL AZ8'S)

Celebrating American Holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas)...Peace Corps Style

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to all my family and friends and readers of this blog.  Many thanks for your support and your interest.

Last summer, while visiting Istanbul, I was very much impressed with the mosaics on walls and ceilings of Hagia Sophia, thinking at the time that I surely had seen pictures of some of these mosaics on beautiful Christmas cards over the years, and deciding then that I would share these images, together with my wishes for glad tidings to all this holiday season.  Now, as always, the message of Peace on Earth has important significance, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer, it is the goal and objective of my service.  

The holiday season for Peace Corps Volunteers is of course a time of mixed emotions, missing home and family, and yet also a time for bonding with other Peace Corps Volunteers, especially important for those serving in countries (like Azerbaijan) where holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are not celebrated.  Of course it is memorable and inspiring to partake in the local holidays with host country nationals, new friends who share with us interesting and fun celebrations.  But we do also appreciate the chance to share with each other our typical American holidays.  So for us Peace Corps Volunteers in Azerbaijan, this holiday season began with a gathering for all of us to celebrate a Thanksgiving dinner, complete with seven turkeys, stuffing, gravy, and so many side dishes...it was fantastic!

An awesome group of Azerbaijan Peace Corps Volunteers pose at the Thanksgiving gathering, loosely positioning themselves on the steps relative to the location of the towns or villages throughout the country where they serve--a human map of 

Enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner was great!

 Peace Corps Azerbaijan.

Watching the "talent" show was hilariously entertaining and enjoyed by  all.

 Some of the fun-loving talent show entertainers...

After returning back to our relative sites of service--our towns and villages, it was time to think of how we might celebrate Christmas.  In my town, we decided to celebrate early, since I (and some of my sitemates) will be out of the country around the holidays.  So we gathered at my Peace Corps Palace for a spectacular Christmas home-made pizza party and white elephant gift exchange...couldn't have been more fun!

The BEST home-made pizza--EVER...all fresh ingredients, straight from the local bazaar.  And baked in one of the ubiquitous Azerbaijani 'red ovens' -- this one in my kitchen--until just right...so delicious!






And then came the white elephant gift exchange, which some proudly display:

Flag-bearing Shakhta Baba

A dagger for all seasons...

A very useful tool

Having to give up the huge jar of peanut butter in white elephant trade 

The winner of the creamy peanut butter, gloating...

Peace Corps creative Christmas Tree, complete with flashing lights (looks better in person)

Last year I was privileged to spend Christmas Eve services and Christmas party at the Baku German Lutheran Church.  But this year I will be in Germany proper.  Having lived, attended school and worked in Germany, I have wonderful life-long friends whom I will be visiting, dear family friends in Duisburg (Muelheim) and Cologne, as well as my god-son in Duesseldorf.  

Christmas in Germany is especially delightful, with its colorful Christkindlmaerkte (Christmas Markets), Nativity displays, Christmas trees (O, Tannenbaum), and specialty treats.  And this Christmas I plan to  attend Christmas services at the Cologne Cathedral, the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe, and one of the most striking and impressive.  It has special Christmas significance, too, since the relics of the Three Wise Men are enshrined at the altar of the Cologne Cathedral.  Some traditions indicate that these Wise Men--Kings of the Orient--(or at least one of them) came from the Land of Fire, from the place where the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism was practiced, a religion whose wise men (magi) studied and noted the position of the stars, perhaps even the Star of Bethlehem .  This Land of Fire is today known as Azerbaijan!  So it seems all too fitting and special that I will travel from Azerbaijan to visit Cologne and worship this holiday season at the Cathedral of the three Holy Kings.

Koelner Dom (Cologne Cathedral) with Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market) in foreground 

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!