Henna

Sat, 12/29/2007 - 08:00

Color me Persian

When I was a kid, my mom used to make me put henna in my hair and I hated it. I remember having that oozing brown mass stuck on my head, a wool hat and 3 bandanas over it and the occasional stream of melting chocolate bleeding down the sides of my face. It was so embarrassing. My mom called it a "natural", Persian conditioner. Well, I wanted to use PANTENE like the rest of my friends around me. And the worst was when the door-bell rang and one of them was standing outside inviting me to an ice-cream or a bike ride and I'd shout down some lame excuse from my room as to why I couldn't or didn't feel like hanging out right now. Awful!

But then life happened and, believe it or not, now I'm the one asking friends to buy me henna whenever they visit Iran. I've found it to be the most amazing conditioner and dye in the world and I've come to love the green, fragrant powder. Of course most Persians living in Iran would not identify with my infantile rejection of henna. They grow up with it and find it ordinary. But the reason it was such an issue for me was that it was so "different" from everything anyone used around me. That's all it was. Wanting to "fit in". I was a child living in Europe and I wanted to be like everyone else, regardless of how many times my mom explained its benefits to me.

But now I use and love henna. I speak Persian and cook the food. Does this make me more Persian than before or more Persian than someone who doesn't? What defines an Iranian or anyone from any culture? What makes me more Persian than say, my mom's cousin, who is also a half Persian, half Austrian like me but doesn't speak the language, cook the food or use henna? Is an Iranian in Iran more Iranian than me, although he hates his life, is sick of his country and wants to be somewhere else? Or am I more Iranian, seeing and loving all the goodness that lies latent in the country's heritage and looking forward to doing my part for it? What makes us Iranian? The language? The poetry? Islam? Zoroastrianism? Religious persecution, cultural cleansing or the celebration of our religious and cultural diversity?

What about my friend who lives in Israel? She is Iranian and her husband is Arab. Their kids have Persian and Arabic names, but they are Jews. She says she's lived in Israel for 30 years, but still feels that Iran is her home. She still does her henna rituals when someone gets married, speaks Persian and cooks sabzi polo mahi at Naw Ruz. Is she less of an Iranian than a woman who goes to the mosque in Isfahan and wears her chador? What about my American friend, Tim, who's a writer, lover and connoisseur of Iranian poetry and culture? Is he less of an Iranian than my husband, whose parents are both Iroonis, but who doesn't know who Omar Khayyam is?

Although I believe I am first and foremost a world citizen, I do believe that my love and goodwill for Iran makes me a stakeholder in that country. Just like my love and goodwill for South Africa makes me a stakeholder of this, my African home. Some people come here to make a living, make money and reap the benefits of whatever economic potential they see here. But there are those "foreigners" who come here to contribute to its people and to its economy. Are they less South African than a South African who loots and kills his fellow man or applies for a green-card to get out of his country? What defines us? Our blood or our intent or what?

Interesting fact: If you speak Persian, you'll notice that wherever in the world they are and live, Persians always refer to other, non-Persians, as "foreigners" or "kharejis", even though they are the foreigners!