6. October 99, KURDISH WEDDING

This last week in Turkey we've visited Cappadocia and seen the Byzantine Monasteries carved into the rock, we've been to "Nemrut Dagi" - a burial ground guarded by metre high statues, We've also spent a night camped outside an army base to protect us from Terrorists (very reassuring when you're awoken to the sound of loading rifles!) The highlight though of this last week was being invited to a Kurdish wedding. We were parked on Lake Van admiring the view when an eight seater minibus stopped and twenty eight Kurds got out (we later discovered this was just one family!)Anyway they were on their way to a wedding and insisted we join them, so off we went. On arriving I was taken to the women and Rupert joined the men, here's his account of what happened..... Wenn sich fünfzehn Kurden, Yannik und ich die Schuhe ausziehen und das, mit Sofas eingerichtete Wohnzimmer, betreten, kann der Duft des wohlschmeckenden Tees welcher immer wieder serviert wird die Situation nur kaum verbessern. Genüsslich wird Tee getrunken und geplaudert. Mit dem wenigen Englisch versuchen sie mir zu erklären das Kurdistan ein eigenes Land werden muss. Plötzlicher Aufbruch zum Essen. Im nebenstehenden Rohbau wird das Essen serviert, welches zwar sehr gut schmeckt aber nicht gut bekommt. Mit dem Bissen noch auf der Gabel bemerke ich dass sich die Männer am oberen Tischende schon im Gebet befinden und auch die Männer neben mir bereits ihr Besteck beiseite gelegt haben. Ähnlich wie beim Schihutten-Spiel "Hosen abi" lege ich nun als letzter mein Besteck nieder und versinke in Andacht. Kurz danach wechselten wir wieder in das andere Haus zum Tee trinken. Das Raumklima hat sich durch das Waschen der Füsse nach dem Gebet nur wenig verbessert da die Socken ja die gleichen blieben. Oder waren es gar nur meine Fusse? Diese Frage wird sich wohl nie klären lassen da das Teetrinken später ins Freie verlegt worden ist. Dort traf ich dann auch wieder Bridge die mir ihre Geschichte erzählte. As I looked round and saw forty veiled faces all with their black eyes staring at me I feared this would be no easy time. From these forty women, one could speak a few world of English so she became the vital link between east and west. We all sat about, exchanged wary smiles, drunk litres of tea and waited (but for what I had no idea). All of a sudden great panic broke out and a rug was whisked into the room. Bags full of clothes, materials, soaps, sweets and anything else you could imagine were emptied onto it, only to be quickly packed away again and taken back to the room they appeared from (the meaning of this strange episode was never explained). Anyway then we all ate sweets, drunk more tea and waited. Then it happened, the bride appeared with a face on her that could sour milk at 100 paces. She was presented with a gold bracelet and then ungraciously marched around the room and forced herself to kiss everyone. Avoiding all eye contact she marched past me as if I were invisible and kissed the next girl (maybe she'd found out about the electricity pole?) She finished her round of kissing, disappeared and was never seen again...... So it was back to drinking tea. As Rupert and I met up again we discovered the best part about this strange wedding, the groom (Bräutigam) was in Patnos - 100kms away!