Strange things                                                                                                                                 

EUROPEAN UNION

                                                    Photos of Strange Things in Azerbaijan

The Producer's ghetto apartment belongs to a pretty hard-core (by AZ standards) Shi'ite family. He's fortunate that if he needs to pray, there's a marker showing the direction to Mecca. There are a number of images of Imam Ali (never really understood why that's permissable but if anyone is looking to issue a Fatwa on the topic, they don't belong to the Producer).

One of the more interesting things is this shrine thing that hangs on the wall next to the front door. It's probably a model of Karbala or some other holy Shi'ite shrine, but if you look closely you'll see feathers,  large thorns and camel bush shoved into its windows and enclaves.

This sort of thing is very common in Azerbaijan -- symbols of Islam mixed up with old animist traditions. You see similar things in another borderland -- Ukraine. Pagan images and symbols are almost as common as those from Orthodoxy. If you look carefully, you see them everywhere

 


  MAIL      strudel wahoo