#Middle-Eastern cultures

[thebrightestwitchofherage]

Iran just launched dozens of drones at Israel

This marks the first time Iran directly attacks Israel, after years of attacking through its terror proxies.

Ps this is the same weapons they supplied to the Russians in their attacks against Ukraine…

See you in the bomb shelters in 9 hours, I’m gonna nap now

[quotidianish]

Jade Winglet (minus Umber and Carnelian 😢) designs and another Winter/Turtle doodle

[whywoulditho]

I really think we deserve a random panel of damian wayne going to the bathroom with a water bottle in his hand. just for fun

[lgbtqiamuslimpedia]

Boyah

Boyah (plural: Boyat) was subcultural identity of AFAB non-binary,tomboy,demi girl & trans-masculine folks of Persian Gulf. Boyat are asigned female at birth,but express gender atypical behaviour. The origin of this queer subculture is unclear, some boyat claimed that it was started through online forums & groups. [citation needed]

Boyah subculture was more visible in Gulf states (including Kuwait,Oman,Saudi Arabia,UAE,Bahrain). Boyah identity may fall under the modern Transgender and Non-binary umbrella. However some people may considered them as people of forth gender.

Sexuality

Boyat folk's sexuality can be confusing in various cultural contexts. Most of the Boyat had intimate and romantic relationships with cis-girls in their past life, but they do not consider themselves as homosexual.

The term Boyah itself does not mean lesbian in arabic.In later life many Boyat had to pursue a heterosexual marriage & had children.Because marriage is a obligatory in local arabic customs.In addition to this, some boyah were androsexual & interested in boys only.

Culture & Lifestyle

Trans-masculine/tomboys/AFAB non-binary/AFAB genderpunk took the “Boyah” cultural identity in their early adolescence. On the otherhand, some boyat took the male role to challenge societal gender norms and stereotypes in Arabic Gulf States.

In general, a boyah is characterized by no make-up, no feminine expressions, no feminine name,feminine pronouns.In boyah subculture, Boyat community may use a massive masculine watches.Boyat people worn loose-fitting male cloth with a touch of the military, vibrantly coloured dresses,shirts and boyah jeans(which are baggy with big prints all over them). Since the age of internet Arab's boyat community started informal groups,online forums.

Most of the boyat have to lead double lives because gulf states has strict cultural gender roles especially for womxn.Many of them are forced to get married.In general Boyah phenomena is considered a disgrace to an arab family's honour.Additionally atypical gender expression is seems to be indecent and deviant in GCC states.Many boyat face stigma for not adhering with rigid patriarchal gender roles.

After leaving home, many undergo a radical transformation,changing their clothes at school/college or a friend's house.While in transition ,they run no real risk of being caught because,while in public, Emirates women are required to wear the national dress - a long black over-garment called an abaya, which makes it easier to switch roles without drawing attention.

Media

In general, Gulf media portrays queerness in negetive ways. A Boyah named Abeer appeared on the Saudi TV Show “Ya Hala” where he/ze said that he/ze was attracted to women while still at school. He/Ze had a complete love relationship with a classmate for a long time. Another person named Hamood joined a show of Radio Sawa where he/ze explained ze was rebelling against social (gender) norms and his/zee family’s restrictions through this boyah phenomena.

On a national television of UAE, a boyah named Bandar openly spoke about his queer relationship with another girl and expressed the desire to marry her and have children with her through IVF. His statement on Abu Dhabi's national television shocked the whole nation.

Decline of Boyah Culture

In the Persian Gulf region, boyah identity became very controversial since 2007. In 2007, the Kuwaiti parliament amended Article 198 of the country’s penal code so that anyone “imitating the opposite sex in any way” could face up to a year in jail and/or a fine of 1,000 dinars ($3,500). A further problem was that the law made no attempt to define “imitating the opposite sex” So it was basically left to the discretion of the police. Within a couple of weeks at least 14 people had been arrested in Kuwait City & thrown into prison. Boyat made their debut as a public concern in 2008 when Dubai police denounced cross-dressing - its chief, Dahi Khalfan Tamim, called on the Ministry of Social Affairs to find out how widespread the practice is and what causes it.

In 2009, Dubai launched a public campaign under the slogan "Excuse Me, I am a Girl", which cautioned against “masculine” behaviour among AFAB queers & tomboys and aimed to steer them towards "femininity". The impetus for this was a moral panic which swept through several Gulf states at that time, regarding the Boyah phenomena. 2 months after announcing the campaign the police persecuted 40 people (for their gender atypical expression), imprisoned them for 3 years in jail.In addition, trans-masculine/trans males,trans women,gender-queers were also shamed & abused by the UAE's police team.

Public Attitudes

Many conservative patriarchal arab people see a greater danger in the Boyah subcultural practices; they fear it can become permanent and cause great distress for the women and their families.

Psychiatrist Yousef Abou Allaban says, "It can go extreme, where they change their sex and have an operation.'' Saudi journalist Yousef Al-Qafari said in an interview on Radio Sawa that family disintegration and lack of true love have led women to act like a man. Al-Qafari said education was the best way to tackle this phenomenon.He called on the Ministry of Education to take up this role.

Social worker Nadia Naseer said, “Families play an essential role in such cases. Families should monitor their female members, especially when they start acting like men by cutting their hair short, wearing men’s clothing, or refusing to wear women’s accessories”. She also said, when a girl or woman does this,she is looking for attention & sending a message that she is a boyah.

Saudi writer Randa Alsheikh, in one of her columns, said that she attended a social gathering where she saw a group of females who appeared almost completely like men.“I would not be exaggerating if I say I could not tell the difference between them and men,” she wrote.She said that they looked, talked and walked like men & “even worse” some appeared to be in their 40s. We need to quickly address this phenomenon to contain these girls so that they are able to build good families and a healthy society,”

[bijoumikhawal]

hello! i hope it's alright to ask you this but i was wondering if you have any recommendations for books to read or media in general about the history of judaism and jewish communities in egypt, particularly in ottoman and modern egypt?

have a nice day!

it's fine to ask me this! Unfortunately I have to preface this with a disclaimer that a lot of books on Egyptian Jewish history have a Zionist bias. There are antizionist Egyptian Jews, and at the very least ones who have enough national pride that AFAIK they do not publicly hold Zionist beliefs, like those who spoke in the documentary the Jews of Egypt (avaliable on YouTube for free with English subtitles). Others have an anti Egyptian bias- there is a geopolitical tension with Egypt from Antiquity that unfortunately some Jewish people have carried through history even when it was completely irrelevant, so in trying to research interactions between "ancient" Egyptian Jews and Native Egyptians (from the Ptolemaic era into the proto-Coptic and fully Coptic eras) I've unfortunately come across stuff that for me, as an Egyptian, reads like anti miscegenationist ideology, and it is difficult to tell whether this is a view of history being pushed on the past or not. The phrase "Erev Rav" (meaning mixed multitude), which in part refers to Egyptians who left Egypt with Moses and converted to Judaism, is even used as an insult by some.

Since I mentioned that documentary, I'll start by going over more modern sources. Mapping Jewish San Francisco has a playlist of videos of interviews with Egyptian Jews, including both Karaites and Rabbinic Jews iirc (I reblogged some of these awhile ago in my "actually Egyptian tag" tag). This book, the Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry, is avaliable for free online, it promises to be a more indepth look at Egyptian Jews in the lead up to modern explusion. I have only read a few sections of it, so I cannot give a full judgment on it. There's this video I watched about preserving Karaite historical sites in Egypt that I remember being interesting. "On the Mediterranian and the Nile edited by Harvey E. Goldman and Matthis Lehmann" is a collection of memiors iirc, as is "the Man in the Sharkskin Suit" (which I've started but not completed), both moreso from a Rabbinic perspective. Karaites also have a few websites discussing themselves in their terms, such as this one.

For the pre-modern but post-Islamic era, the Cairo Geniza is a great resource but in my opinion as a hobby researcher, hard to navigate. It is a large cache of documents from a Cairo synagogue mostly from around the Fatimid era. A significant portion of it is digitized and they occasionally crowd source translation help on their Twitter, and a lot of books and papers use it as a primary source. "The Jews in Medieval Egypt, edited by: Miriam Frenkel" is one in my to read pile. "Benjamin H. Hary - Multiglossia in Judeio-Arabic. With an Edition, Translation, and Grammatical Study of the Cairene Purim Scroll" is a paper I've read discussing the Jewish record of the events commemorated by the Cairo Purim, I got it off either Anna's Archive or libgen. "Mamluks of Jewish Origin in the Mamluk Sultanate by Koby Yosef" is a paper in my to read pile. "Jewish pietism of the Sufi type A particular trend of mysticisme in Medieval Egypt by Mireille Loubet" and "Paul B Fenton- Judaism and Sufism" both discuss the medieval Egyptian Jewish pietist movement.

For "ancient" Egyptian Jews, I find the first chapter of "The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD” by Simon Schama, which covers Elephantine, very interesting (it also flies in the face of claims that Jews did not marry Native Egyptians, though it is from centuries before the era researchers often cover). If you'd like to read don't click this link to a Google doc, that would be VERY naughty. There's very little on the Therapeutae, but for the paper theorizing they may have been influenced by Buddhism (possibly making them an example of Judeo-Buddhist syncretism) look here (their Wikipedia page also has some sources that could be interesting but are not specifically about them). "Taylor, Joan E. - Jewish women philosophers of first-century Alexandria: Philo’s Therapeutae reconsidered" is also a to read.

I haven't found much on the temple of Onias/Tell el Yahudia/Leontopolis in depth, but I have the paper "Meron M. Piotrkowski - Priests in Exile: The History of the Temple of Onias and Its Community in the Hellenistic Period" in my to be read pile (which I got off Anna's Archive). I also have some supplemental info from a lecture I attended that I'm willing to privately share.

I also have a document compiling links about the Exodus of Jews from Egypt in the modern era, but I'm cautious about sharing it now because I made it in high school and I've realized it needs better fact checking, because it had some misinfo in it from Zionist publications (specifically about the names of Nazis who fled to Egypt- that did happen, but a bunch of names I saw reported had no evidence of that being the case, and one name was the name of a murdered resistance fighter???)

[thegoatsongs]

The Crew and Bulgarian cuisine in Varna

First off, Jonathan. I think he would want to try Shkembe (Bulgarian tripe soup), and love it. Tripe soup isn't common in England, but we know he is open to new experiences and that he is daring. Plus, he used to be poor and it's likely he's been having similar cuts of meat, which was most affordable in England. Tripe soup has variations in Southeastern Europe and the Middle East, but the Bulgarian version adds paprika in particular and, in fact, claims the more paprika, the better. (imo it's up to your spice taste)

Is he trying any in Varna? I say yes. Because tripe soup places are traditionally open all night and morning because they're commonly visited around dawn by graveyard-shift working-class people, sailors, and people who drank the night away. Because it settles the stomach.

After Mina's dawn report, he sometimes goes there to eat, after another night of being up with Mina. He's not been very hungry, but he tries to eat... He needs his strength. He of course asks for extra paprika. He needs to feel somewhat alive.

I see Mina liking fish, and Varna is a sea town. I base this on her surname and her strong affinity with the seashore, mostly. She would really like deep-fried sprats (tsatsa), herring-like fish with lemon and fries. Sort of reminds her of home with its fish and chips. She would like the various Black Sea fishes like shad and goby, and mussels. She avoids going out when she's awake, but Jonathan knows her tastes and brings her seafood.

She tries to eat like a normal human, for him. It gets less and less easier.

Van Helsing may have tried a few Balkan dishes before but I think that he would like local Lozomi Sarmi. Rice/veggie/herb-stuffed grape leaves are a staple starter in the Balkans. I see him in general preferring vegetarian dishes but he'll have some of the ground meat stuffed ones. Dipped in Bulgarian yogurt.

Quincey is a meat lover to me and I can see him loving Meshana Skara, aka assorted meat dish, that includes meatballs, the famous kebapche, steak, and pita. Arthur isn't a lover of the local cuisine but he will try it if his friends are having it. It's what he usually does in their travels. But he eats plenty of Bulgarian yogurt, Kiselo Mlyako. It's sour, and he prefers it that way, than adding honey.

Jack likes trying new things and assessing them, he'll try almost anything once. It's autumn and getting chillier at the seaport, so he opts for warmer food like Gyuvech, a vegetable casserole with beef and potatoes in red sauce.

His insomnia sometimes brings him to overnight restaurants. Sometimes, after dawn, he sees Jonathan there. They sit and eat and smoke together, mostly in silence.

[queenlucythevaliant]

We see him come and know him ours

Russia: "Carol of the Russian Children," traditional // Kenya: The Nativity, Elima Njau // France: "Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella," Nicolas Saboly // Haiti: Madonna and Child, Ismael Saincilus // Australia: "The Three Drovers," William James // China: Tryptic by Lu Hongnian // Canadian/Algonquian: "Huron Carol," Jean de Brébeuf

[15-lizards]

so this must be a weird request, but i was thinking about myriah martell (daeron ii's wife) and her relationship with the targaryen court. i figured that, as naerys wasn't such a strong figure at court nor the most fashionable, during aegon iv's rule myriah would be the closest to a fashion icon/inspiration for daeron's faction, however, as a martell in a deeply anti-dorne with a racist father-by-law/king, her influence would probably be quite limited at the time of his reign, both in fashion and in politics. hopefully, if martin doesn't kill her in f&b2, how do you think her queenship would influence the fashion in court? if you have any ideas of how as princess of dragonstone she and her supporters would dress, i'd love to hear about them too! (sorry for the bad english, i am brazilian and am writing this at 3am during research for fanfic, so it's not my most cohesive moment)

I am so sorry this is so late dear I just noticed this while I’m clearing out my ask box

Okay side note so I’ve never been able to decide on one main inspiration for Dorne, and I really don’t want that to read as orientalist conglomeration of multiple middle eastern cultures. I just can’t decide which real-world culture works the best, so please let me know if anything I say comes off as orientalist bc I really don’t want to do that!

Okay all that being said: I feel like Pakistani and Indian fashions are the biggest inspos for this time period in particular. Unfortunately we don’t know much about Myriah’s personality, but she seemed to mesh well with Daeron, so I take that as her being a more moderate, calm personality. Dressing in clothes that were fitting for her station as a princess of Dorne with gold stitched silks etc. but still have some degree of modesty at the same time. Her and her ladies always wore a few layers over their gowns, and always had some sort of shawl or scarf with them. Despite their compliance to the standards of Kings Landing, Dornish fashions never caught on completely, though over the years the Dornish fashion began to change a bit, with fuller skirts and more fitted bodices, while the prominent women of the city began to wear layered gowns and have the edges of their clothing embroidered in gold

[almostpoetic0-0]

The concept of Damian growing up with a Muslim shower(bidet) as he grew up in a Arabic country and just talia packing him an empty bottle(if yanno , yanno) and telling him to use this to go to the bathroom in his European tour or however he really to the Manor, with a separate Muslim shower attachment (for when he get to the manor for installment) as well and like poor bby dami confused and asks his mother if it is a training exercise and Talia just freaking longs sighs and says that the west doesn't have Muslim showers like us and they u paper to clean there butt and

DAMI JUST HORRIFEID LIKE NO WATER ???

AND LIKE HES WILLING TO BEG UMMI NOT TO SEND HIM. And then he's like but my FATHER(baba) would not be stupid enough right he must be rich enough to use water to "do the stuff right " and once again he is disappointed

And like in the background Jason had his dip already sneaks into the league to like steal a Muslim shower for himself (he grew up on the street he has to feel clean or ptsd yanno) and Ra's is so proud that ATLEST SOMEONE from the west cherises cleanliness and doesn't even care abt hurting Jason (he's like a scientist showing of his discovery) like HERE U WANT ONE TAKE IT,I HAVE A GOLD PLATED ONE TO TAKE THAT TO. Like just Muslim shower appreciation bro and Eastern culture to but mostly Muslim shower

Also the food don't get me started on that bby used to having whole a** chilies but like he's comes to USA and EVERYTHING IS SO BLAND W H Y. He has to call his mother and ask her with increasing desperation if he can come back and to at least send him a cook he is a prince after all.

Everybody at the Manor is confused abt him not eating food and putting hot sauce on everything because that's what he has been led to THE HORROR. Alfreds British and even after all that colonization BY TRADING FREAKING SPICE through the subcontinent their food is still pretty bland and Dami is so salty abt this to Alfred

Dami: Ummi these people don't even know what seasoning is, Ummi. Plz is this punishment for the time my tiger ate your dress mother. Father(baba) doesn't even know how to install a Muslim shower Ummi

And talia amused on the inside and telling to preservere and think of it as training

And just yeah a biracial person guide to THE WEST

I would like LOVEEEE to read a comic written by a Eastern writer about Damian having to adapt to the west and that being harder then any training cus he like are these people senile or poor to wipe ther butt with paper and to think that mandi (pretty sure there might be veggie options in this to) is just orange friend rice to them like where is the FLAVOUR 🤌

[thebrightestwitchofherage]

April 7th, six months into the war

Since I woke up terrified, and had to run for my bomb shelter. I had to barricade myself in my house in case terrorists came.

I’ve never imagined that this war could happen let alone go on for so long.

People I know died, people I know were kidnapped (and thankfully rescued).

Thousands of rockets were fired, and I’ve had to run for my life countless times. For months my house was rattled by rockets, airplanes and bombings. Even my dogs are scared of random loud noises by now.

I also can’t recall a time *in my life* when so many foreign armies/ terror groups attacked us at once. There was a rise in violence and terror attacks.

Yet people here seem to have lost it: I’ve never saw so much antisemitism and bigotry. I’ve personally been sent death threats and slurs, and been harassed. All from seemingly peaceful and educated people, fuelled by misinformation, antisemitic rhetoric and blood libels.

The new trend is hating & harassing every Jews and Israeli in sight . Calling us Nazis and telling us we deserve it, and then having the nerve saying it’s about Zionism, not antisemitism.

There are currently 133 hostages still kept in captivity by Hamas, along with dozens of bodies

Bring them home now. Silence is unacceptable.

[baebeylik]

1889 Moorish Girl

Francesc Masriera

[weldnas]

-

[oatbugs]

i should have never dated an iranian person like i told myself i would never do it bc it would be too much intensity all in one place and i was RIGHT now that i've experienced it (smn who can engage in poetry in a similar way, talk in the same language, making all the cultural stuff gay and hot, etc) i feel like without those aspects things will just be missing Something like from now on . idk . let's drink black tea w saffron and then make out . i've never celebrated the solar new year or leapt over a fire the wednesday before or read romantic hafez poetry w someone who loves me romantically and now i crave it . so much

[gemsofgreece]

What was women's position in the Byzantine Empire? I haven't searched that much, but it seems like her position wasn't any different from Ancient Greece, where they were expected to be modest, silent and it was generally preferable not to be heard (at least, women from aristocratic families).

Well you won’t find easily a medieval state which did not want women to be modest and quiet.

In spite of that, no that’s not true. The place of the woman in the society improved considerably in Byzantine times compared to the Classical era. As a sidenote, perhaps we should not generalize about Classical Greece either, especially when we apply the reality of Athens to all the Greek world without enough evidence that this is historically accurate, at a time when Athens was extremely obsessed with ¨male perfection¨.

Based on our view of things nowadays, it might seem counterintuitive, however Christianity played a huge role in this improvement. You see, the Bible through its scriptures and also the very example of Virgin Mary, whom the Byzantines (and later the Modern Greeks too) worshipped almost equally to Christ, as well as the church’s acknowledgement and veneration of women martyrs indiscriminately from men martyrs, made it clear that women were spiritually equally capable of achieving “théosis”, meaning resemble the image of God, in other words; sainthood. It was thus deemed important that women would be able to read and study the scriptures. As a result the Byzantine empire had the highest literacy rate of women in the Middle Ages.

Intercepting for those who might wonder: "But the Ancient Greek religion had gods and goddesses alike, so why wouldn't that improve the social status of women?". The answer is because in the Ancient Greek religion there was no concept of théosis, meaning any human's strive to achieve a moral perfection to resemble the image of God. The dynamics of gods and godesses were separate from those of the people, where women were left to be evaluated by and versus men alone.

Women were nowhere as confined as the women of classical Greece. Of course they should be good wives and mothers catering to their household first and foremost but they could participate in social events, festivals, go shopping, lather in the baths and have fun like men did. As wives, their status was also better, as according to Christianity all god-fearing men were supposed to be loyal to their wives and have no concubines. So, if a man really had no intention to be faithful at all, neither to his wife nor to the Christian teachings, he at least did it discreetly, and if he did not do even that, then he did not escape the judgement of the society. Divorce was hard for either spouse to ask, of course waaay more for women, but for example Justinian enforced an iconic law that if a couple wanted to take a divorce then BOTH spouses should go to monasteries and be celibate for life lol So you know, be cruel, but at least be indiscriminately cruel! 😂

Financially, dowries and inheritance remained a woman’s property after marriage unlike in classical times. If the husband died, it was the widow’s choice whether she would marry again or not and she was in charge of her children on her own whereas in classical times women had to marry their husband’s closest relative (to “protect” them and the property that had now passed on their own family). So, really no contest there. Women owned and ran businesses and signed contracts. They were employed in a wide range of professions.

As for the aristocrats, they had it much better than classical aristocrats. They did not work like lower class women, obviously, so they filled all that extra time by being pampered by their servants (female and male, sometimes eunuchs), who were usually exclusive to them. Depending on the lady’s interests, the servants would keep her entertained by playing music, reading to her, gossiping, grooming her etc Some women hired teachers to improve on their education on their own accord. Wives of important men were usually involved in political and diplomatic affairs and they were very interested in such matters. Educated women could be doctors (for women).

Nuns, who did not have the burden of taking care of the children and a husband, often became studious and pretty educated, with artistic concerns, like Kassiani. And to go back to the ask, there are accounts of Byzantine princesses being perceived in West Europe as “too talkative” and “too concerned with themselves”, so apparently Byzantium gave its aristocratic women a lot more liberty than, say, Classical Athens and also more than Western Europe did.

And then of course the Byzantine Empire was the only medieval state to have ever been reigned by four women on their own, and some of them were very consciously and ambitiously pursuing the throne. But even the empresses consorts, meaning the wives of the emperors, were also expected to be well acquainted with all the matters of the empire in case something happened to the emperor because they had to stand in his place temporarily or even serve as regents. From the 22 pages in Wikipedia about Byzantine regents, the 7 are about women, so one third, at least from the well known ones.

Women were also interested in their appearances and really took matters in their hands. Rich women would have special gardens cultivating flowers and spices to create their own perfumes. Michael Psellos writes about how Empress Zoe had essentially turned herself into a chemist, making the basements of the imperial palace a lab for perfumes and elixirs to maintain her youthful appearance.

And let’s end this with some quotes from Anna Komnene’s Alexiad (inspired by the Iliad she so loved), the chronicles of her father’s Emperor Alexius exploits in war.

12th-century manuscript of the Alexiad

The Alexiad is invaluable because it remains one of the richest sources of information historians possess about the military, social and imperial history of the Byzantine Empire.

Ah I had written before about that stuff and I meant to write something short this time but I just can’t do it when it’s about Byzantium my love adefefajdhhajhf

[menalez]

also racist white people

[kindheartedgummybears]

you wanna know what??

I am

TIRED

of overmasculinized werewolves!!!!

I WANNA SEE A

WEREWOLF

WALKING AROUND IN A CVNTY LITTLE OUTFIT!!! WALKING THE STREETS!!!! DISEMBOWELING CREATURES!!!!

I WANNA SEE WEREWOLVES COVERED IN BLOOD AND GORE WHILE WEARING A SHORT SKIRT AND CROPTOP WITH HELLO KITTY ON IT!!!!

I WANNA SEE A WEREWOLF WALKING AROUND IN COTTAGE AND FAIRY AND PRINCESS CORE OUTFITS!!!!!! WITH A DEAD MANGLED RABBIT IN ITS MOUTH!!!!

AND MAKE THE WEREWOLF

D I S G U S T I N G ! ! !