Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-04-29
LIFE OF A PERSIAN GIRL.
HER HAIR, HANDS AND FEE:
DYED WITH HENNA.
aoing 20 the Public BATH Her Geatesr
Diversion.

| lures, tlIgeu Win unt or rose where
lhe dlmples are, or should be, the
silky hair is dark as the plume of the
raven that crowns the head of the little
girl baby, who was born but yesterday
IN that quaint dwelling at the foot of
Mount ElborZ. The mollah, or priest,
has already been to the house, and, in
The presence of her father, has turned
over the leaves of the Koran or Mo-
hametan scriptures, and hit on the
name of Fathemeh, the daughter of
Mohamet the Prophet, so G'athemeh is
% be the name of the newborn babe
She is Persian and in Persia she will
live, for it is only with the special per-
mission of the shah that Persion wo-
man can live out of her native land.
She is but day old, but an amulet
has been already hung on her neck
containing tiny scrap of paper on
which is inscribed passage from the
Koran, intended to ward off mischief
from djinns or evil spirits. For the
same reason if any of the neighbors
look in to see the little stranger and
] express admiration of her beauty, the
nurse requests them to spit in the baby's
face lest the influence of the evil eve
should lurk in what might be the praise
Of envy or jealousy. A tiny white cap
Of open embroidery also covers the in
fant's hair, and her limbs are swathed
tightly in swaddling bands.
When Fathemeh is five or six months
Did, the bands are gradually removed,
and her hair is dyed with henna. The
! first application turns it 10 a bright
orange red, the second wash turns the
hair to rich blue-black. The finger
and toe nails, the soles of her feet and
the palms of her hand are also dyed
yellow with henna. This is not done
entirely for beauty, as Europeans often
imagine, but rather to tougher the
skin. This is especially necessary with
the soles, as most women in Persi9 90
barefooted in the house
When little Fathimeh is old enough
10 toddle about she has a pres
ent of red slippers, embroidered with
| tinsel, but rarely wears them at play,
| for they are an encumbrance. When
| she is two or three years old, however,
she begins to wear a mantle-an arti-
Gle of dress that she will wear until her
death, whenever she steps out of the
house, whether to sport in the garden
Or play or walk IN the street. This
! awkward dress she wears attached 10
her head and it reaches to her feet.
| While she is child it is worn loose
and flies behind her when she runs;
but when she reaches the age of eleven
Or twelve the mantle is drawn over the
face, excepting over the eyes, which
are protected from the gaze of any but
her own family by tiny lattice work
eXquisitely embroidered of white silk
While still child little Fsthimeh
sits in the gate and sometimes plays
with the boys of the neighborhood,
and thus, perhaps, forms passing ac-
1uaiutance with her future husband.
IL her parents are peasants she would
| accompany them to the fields and aid
N picking the fruit and cleaning the
| harvest. But as her parents are WELL
io-do city folk of some means, she is
soon taught that her destiny is to be q
| life almost as secluded as that of
lunnery.
Her days are TO be passed within the
;eclusion of the anderoon, or women's
quarter of the house, where she re-
sides, whether it be her fathers or her
husbands anderoon. If the former,
| oy the time Fathimeh is nine years old
ner days are passed in apartments
where her only society is that of her
mother, sisters and brothers and the
female slaves of the household. Occa-
.ionally other little girls pay her a
formal visit, and they pass a serious
| afternoon eating cucumbers and con-
tectiouery TO a degree that would
speedily kin off most American chill
iren- In Persia those who are unable
o bfsr such irregular diet die early;
.he survivors become so hardened they
are able to endure anything. This Is
4 simple way of avoiding the necessity
IF heavy doctors bills, which is, per-
laps, an advantage in country where
he physicians are the most bare-faced
luacks.
If Fathimeh's father has several
wives, which it is greatly to be feared
S the case, then she also has her half
brothers and sisters as playmates, and
4 merry time they have of it. The
anderoon is entirely separated from
The rest of the establishment within
an inclosure of its own, and each wife
with her family occupies a distinct
portion of the anderoon. 1t is built
around square courtyard surrounded
~ high walls so that no one may look
INTO it, nor is any neighboring house
permitted to look into the anderoon
court, whether from the roof or from
windows. Nor are there any windows
IN the anderoon itself that face the
street. Thus you can see that the an
1eroon and its court are entirely shut
out from the world.
Going to the public bath ie one of
Fathimeh's greatest diversions from
he earliest childhood. AT least once
week her uIother takes her there.
they make an afternoon of it. Fathi-
mch has her fingers freshly dyed with
lenna, and her hair, which has grown
very long, is plated into innumerable
small braids, which are expected TO
.ast without recombing until her next
visit to the bath. These days at the
bath are an education to the little girl
now rapidly approaching womanhood.
With the exception of few lessons
with the needle, or on the guitar or in
he making of preserves, the little
maiden has had no other education ex-
sept what she gains from hearing older
people of her own sex converse. And
thus, when she is at the bath and hears
the women talking while embroidering
DR. smoking after the ablutions are over,
she learns much from their conversa-
ion of life in the outside world of
Persia, and she will need all the infor-
nation she can acquire; for if she
ever learns to read and write, witch
Is not likely, it must be after she is
married.
That marriage IS her inevitable des-
hny she learns a. soon as she can talk.