Today around lunchtime I was on our balcony, which looks down on the entrance to the restaurant of the hotel next door. A group of guests was gathering near the entrance. Among the guests was a priest. When they started walking inside I noticed something interesting. Near the entrance a woman was standing holding a bucket with water and a towel. Before entering the restaurant every member of this group (relatives? friends?) would wash their hands with the water from the bucket. It clearly was some kind of ritual connected to the reason they were gathering and I figure they must have been gathereing for some kind of meal (as it was a restaurant). Does anyone of you readers have an idea what this was about? Is today (the 18th of June) a special day or is this a ritual connected to the celebration or marking of some life event, like a baptism or a memorial gathering for a deceased or something like that? I attended a baptism and the celebrational meal afterward once, but there was no hand-washing involved there. I am very curious about this, so if any of you can help me out....
On Friday I attended an interesting lecture at the Caucasus Research Resource Center by Richard Giragosian, a Washington based analyst, about current developments in the region, the role Armenia plays in them and the importance for Armenia of the (changing) US-policy towards Turkey, Azerbaijan and to a lesser extent Iran.
I have a job interview tonight at 19:00. What is this?!?!?!?!? A job interview at seven on a Saturday evening.............
As for our cat, she is doing okay, but her stituation turned out to be more serious than we initially thought and there were some complications after the operation. A few times we were at the point of putting her to sleep, because there was no progress, but everytime we were thinking about that, she took a big step forward (starting to walk, starting to eat on her own, etc.), as if she wanted to tell us we were wrong. I think we are past the point of considering putting her to sleep now, given some time she'll be fine. I hope.
On Friday I attended an interesting lecture at the Caucasus Research Resource Center by Richard Giragosian, a Washington based analyst, about current developments in the region, the role Armenia plays in them and the importance for Armenia of the (changing) US-policy towards Turkey, Azerbaijan and to a lesser extent Iran.
I have a job interview tonight at 19:00. What is this?!?!?!?!? A job interview at seven on a Saturday evening.............
As for our cat, she is doing okay, but her stituation turned out to be more serious than we initially thought and there were some complications after the operation. A few times we were at the point of putting her to sleep, because there was no progress, but everytime we were thinking about that, she took a big step forward (starting to walk, starting to eat on her own, etc.), as if she wanted to tell us we were wrong. I think we are past the point of considering putting her to sleep now, given some time she'll be fine. I hope.
posted by Myrthe at 4:06 PM
1 Comments:
I am just catching up on your posts. Very interesting. That "ritual" you are referring to happens after a funeral service and before entering the place where a wake meal is served. I guess it is in some way symbolically cleansing people who have been at a cemetery.
Post a Comment
<< Home