13. Habits of Life

Habits of Life

Chapter III The daily routine of Persian existence will help to furnish a good notion of the condition and habits of the people. Persians of all ranks rise as soon as it is light, and perform their morning devotions. Then comes the nachtah or breakfast, which consists of grapes and other kinds of fruits that are in season, cheese and goats’ milk, and finishes—as everything is finished in Persia—with a cup of strong coffee. The artisan then proceeds to his work, the tradesman to the bazaar, and the gentleman repairs to the divan khaneh, or the public room in which he receives company, and where he expects his visitors and dependants. He is probably engaged with them till nine o’clock, listening to the reports of the morning, settling disputes, and arranging domestic concerns. It is the time for him to visit the court of the prince or governor, where he pays his obeisance, and takes care to remain sufficiently long in the presence of the person he visits to attract his observation. His kaleon always accompanies him, in charge of the servant, whose sole duty it is to attend to this important instrument of Persian existence; and when he thinks he can retire unnoticed, he regales himself with smoking. About noon, the governor probably retires, which is a signal for all those who are in attendance to take their departure. On his return home, his dinner, or more properly lunch (tchacht), is brought, consisting generally of bread, cheese, butter, and different sorts of fruits. After this meal, as before, according to the time, he says his noontide prayers, and then withdraws into the harem to his family, and to enjoy his customary repose. About three o’clock, he may then again have to attend the public audience, especially if he has any official employment. If not, he rides out, or pays visits; or, if his rank should be too exalted, he stays at home to receive them. At four, he repeats the afternoon prayers. When night comes on, the carpets are spread in the open air, and with either friends or dependents he prepares to pass the evening. They converse on the events of the day, or the news of the court; they relate extraordinary adventures, and recite passages of their favorite poets. The kaleon supplies the intervals of silence. The hour for the fourth daily prayer arrives, but without causing any interruption to the flow of conversation or amusement. Each rises in turn, goes to a corner of the room, places himself on a small carpet with his face turned towards Mecca, and performs his religious service with so much greater dispatch than devotion, as significantly proclaims, “What a weariness it is,” in his estimation, and as mere formal worship always must become.

About ten o’clock, a servant announces that supper (shamee) is ready. At the same time, he brings with him an ewer and basin, and in the fashion so often indicated in Scripture, he “pours water upon the hands” of each of the guests. The person holds out his hands, one under the other, and the servant pours water upon them from the long spout of his ewer, while the basin held underneath receives the water that falls from them. They then draw themselves around the tray on which the dishes are placed, and apply themselves to the food before them with much earnestness. About eleven, the party breaks up, and the occupations of the day are ended. There remains, indeed, a prayer to be said in the middle of the night, but there is reason to believe that it is usually forgotten, for only three of the five daily prayers are deemed indispensable. The Persians are too much taken up with etiquette and ceremony not to be fond of visiting. The dependent would not on any account allow a day to pass without paying his respects to his patron, the courtier without presenting himself before the prince, and friends without mutually visiting one another. The ceremonies and compliments differ with the rank of the visitor. Everyone who visits is sensitively alive to the degree of attention to which he thinks himself entitled; and every one who is visited is careful to render neither less nor more consideration than the position of his visitor claims. If the visitor is a person greatly superior, the master meets him at the entrance to the court of the house; if considerably superior, at the entrance of the room; if an equal, he rises as he enters; but if an inferior, he merely makes the motion of rising.

If an inferior is honored with a visit from a superior, he does not sit down till the latter is seated, nor rise till he has risen. This, it will be seen, does not materially differ from our own customs—the natural dictates of politeness being much the same in all but the most barbarous nations. The master of the house usually occupies the upper end of the side carpet, near or at the right hand corner of the room—the corner being the seat of honor among all western Asiatic nations, as it was among the ancient Israelites, 1 Samuel 20:25; Amos 5:12; but if he wishes to do especial honor to his guest, he gives up his place to him, or desires him to take his place by his side. Ordinarily, when a Persian comes into an assembly, and has saluted the master and received his recognition, he marks with his eye the place in the line of guests to which he holds himself entitled, and proceeding straight to it, sits down and wedges his way in there, without offering the slightest apology for the general disturbance of the whole line which he produces.

It does not generally, but does sometimes, happen that a person takes a higher place than that to which he has any just claim. The Persian scribes are remarkable for their arrogance in this respect, in which, as in many other respects, they bear no small resemblance to the Jews of the same profession in the time of our Lord. The master of the house has, however, the right of placing any one as high in the rank of the assembly as he may choose, and Mr. Morier mentions a remarkable instance of this at a public entertainment to which he was invited. When the assembly was nearly full, the governor of Kashan, a man of humble mien, although of considerable rank, came in and seated himself at the lowest place; when the master of the house, after numerous expressions of welcome, pointed with his hand to an upper seat in the assembly, to which he desired him to move, and which he accordingly did. These circumstances strikingly illustrate the parable which our Lord uttered, when, at a public entertainment, he noticed how carefully those that were bidden chose out the highest places for themselves, Luke 14:8-11. The style of the complimentary phrases used on such occasions, and which are seldom varied, may be seen from the account which the Rev. Judkin Perkins gives of his interview with the governor of Oroomiah. “We found the governor occupying a splendid mansion, and surrounded by numerous attendants. He received us with much civility and apparent kindness. As we entered the great hall, he beckoned us to the upper end, to sit by his side, and ran through a long string of inquiries after our health, in the usual Persian manner—Kaef-üz yŏkhshée dŭr? (Is your health good?) Dâmâghún châkh dŭr? (Your palate—appetite—lusty?) Kaef-üz koek dŭr? (Are you in hale—fat—keeping?) etc.; and withal so rapidly that we found no room for some time to interpose a reply, and could merely nod our assent till he had finished. We then inquired after his health, to which, with a solemn stroke of the beard, he answered, Alhémdooleelah (Thanks be to God). Sizín devletavüzdan (By your auspices). Sizín Ahvâlüz yŏkhshée ólsûn, v’ menimke yŏkhshée dŭr (Only let your condition be prosperous, and I am of course very well). He then reiterated his expressions of welcome: Hosh geldüz (Your coming is delectable). Sefa geldüz (Your arrival is gladsome). Güzum ûstá geldüz (Upon my eyes, you have come), etc. To divert the luscious tide, it was remarked that I came from the new world; but to this he replied, ‘Everything must be superlative that comes from the new world,’ and proceeded to lavish upon me and my country a copious shower of fine sayings of the like description.” The manner in which the Persians take their meals is very different from ours. They are strangers to the use of tables, knives, and forks; and such is the power of habit, that articles which we cannot dispense with are to them the most troublesome and inconvenient. Dinner in Persia (or supper as some call it), though the chief meal of the day, and of course, as in all countries, a matter of some consideration, is an affair of far less importance or duration than with us. Even when a prince gives a feast to his friends, the time of eating scarcely occupies half an hour. The guests sit on the felt carpet along one side, or at the top of the room, with their backs leaning against the wall; a long narrow strip of chintz, or colored cotton, called sofra (or, as we should say, table-cloth), is spread before the whole party by two servants. The basins and ewers containing cold water are then produced to wash the hands, in the manner already described. Trays of tinned copper, termed mujmuahs, are brought in, each containing in general a dish of beautiful plain boiled rice, with another of some sort of pillow—that is, with butter and meat, or vegetables, or both; one or two smaller dishes containing exquisite stews, to season the rice; some pickles, sweet- meats, cut pieces of radish or turnip; a sort of omelets; a partridge or fowl stewed to pieces in some sweet or sour sauce; and one or two bowls of different sherbet; each having a long-handled carved pear-wood spoon floating upon it. One of these mujmuahs, thus laden, is placed usually for every two guests; and when all are thus served, the master of the feast, uttering the word Bismillah!—“In the name of God!” by way of grace, leans forward, and the meal begins. The manner in which the trays are placed, one to every two guests, throws some light upon the circumstances of the dinner which Joseph’s brethren ate with him and the Egyptians. “They set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves,” Genesis 43:32, which, according to this method, might be done without too obviously invidious or offensive distinctions, seeing that the customary order of a feast required a tray to be set before two or three persons separately. This is no conjecture; for the paintings in the Egyptian tombs show that the custom of eating from separate trays, brought in full charged with the dishes, and set down, one before two guests, was also the Egyptian custom; and that the Egyptians sat upon the floor, and led themselves with their hands in the same manner as do the modern Persians.

It would seem, however, that the Egyptian fare was less than the Persian composed of stews and made dishes, and more of substantial joints, and of large birds dressed whole. This, perhaps, facilitated the operation mentioned in Genesis 43:34, “He took and sent messes unto them from before him;” which was a great honor according to the notions of a Persian, who cannot show to a guest a higher distinction than to order a particular dish to be taken from his own tray to that of the person he wishes to honor—or by giving a choice morsel with his own hands from a dish before him to anyone who is near enough to receive it. So sir James Sutherland, in his description of a dinner given to Sir Harford Jones, writes: “It is considered at a Persian entertainment a compliment for a person to offer you a piece out of a dish that stands before him, which he does with his hands; and this you are expected to receive and devour with peculiar satisfaction—to do otherwise would be considered the greatest piece of incivility and rudeness, if not insult. Nasr Oollah Khan favored the ambassador with this unenviable mark of his respect; and the latter, with a coolness that surprised us all, set about eating it immediately.” The custom was also the same among the Jews; and the reader will thus see the significance of the act of our Savior in giving the sop to Judas when he had dipped it, John 13:26. It is clear, indeed, that at the last supper Judas was seated in an honorable place, whence he fed out of the same dish with his Master—for our Lord said, “He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me,” Matthew 26:23, which is perfectly intelligible according to Persian mode of feeding, where the two or three before whom each tray or set of dishes is placed, are constantly plunging their hands into the same dishes.

During the half-hour, or thereabout, which the meal occupies, the fingers of everyone are busily employed in forming the lugmehs, or handfuls of rice mixed with other things, and which are conveyed towards the mouth, and jerked in, without spilling a grain of rice, or a drop of sauce, in a manner which a European cannot learn without much inconvenient practice. This labor is performed with diligent application and close attention, only interrupted by occasionally taking a spoonful or two of sherbet. By-and-by, one or two arise from their stooping posture, or keep only trifling with their fingers, till the host erects himself, with an audible Alhumdulillah! “Thanks be to God!” which is echoed by the company; for the Muslims invariably observe before and after meats, that decent acknowledgment to God, which too many who call themselves Christians altogether neglect.