© the eyeranian

The Dancing Ritual

If you are eyeranian, one of the things your parents bring with them for you to enjoy is video tapes sent by family and friends from overseas. People you haven't seen in ages in various weddings, birthday parties, family get-togethers and gatherings. Here's my summary of what I have so far watched, in hours of videos;

I do not know another culture, where middle-aged adults go visit a relative or friend and within minutes the stereo is blasting and all participants present are in the middle of the room dancing! There seems to be very little or no conversation and the only social interaction is through gyrating your hips, sometimes very suggestively I may add.

I know this is part of the region's culture and having dated people of Arabic, Kurdish, Jewish and other middle-eastern backgrounds in the past, I have witnessed various versions of the same phenomena. However, the current Iranian version takes the cake by far, in both quantity and intensity of the whole ritual. I say current, as this was not the norm even 25 years ago. But as the "Islamic Republic" banned social dancing, the entire experience became a must-do at every opportune time the same way gambling or alcohol or satellite foreign programming is practiced at a frequency unheard of anywhere else.

I once wrote how Iranians are so reactionary lately, they are hardly FOR anything but are certainly AGAINST it if this government is for it or at least pretends to be. Israel-Palestine conflict is a good example of how the regime has alienated the Palestinian cause with many Iranians by supporting the wrong elements within that struggle. The same goes for anything regime is against. If they ban it, it must be practiced at capacities beyond anything resembling norms.

This government can come out tomorrow heavily against fishing and the next day there'll be line-ups for people trying to get on boats to go fishing. Sad, but true.

Posted by Pedram at February 8, 2004 11:59 PM