Leaving Lalish

The post is dedicated to our Lalish hosts, who sent us off with all the warmth of good friends sad to see their guests leave. On arrival, children scattered and we were treated with wariness until Dr. P jumped out and went up to the nearest adults and started chatting in Kurdish. Her warmth seemed to be infectious and soon we had a group of "guides" who seemed happy to take is through the temple, explain the protocol (for example, don't step onto any of the stones in the doorways (the threshholds?). The first picture is of our guides. The second picture shows people dancing. There seems to be a less restrictions on interaction between women and men here than in Hawler as women were holding men's hands and were wearing tighter clothes, some with short sleeves. The third picture is of some children looking at a picture on Dr. S's camera. One of the little boys then got a splinter in his finger and the whole community gathered round to try to help him. The women in the fourth picture are ones who followed us down to the bus and who tried (somewhat successfully) to get us to dance with them. Finally, you see a rather non-descript picture of a white SUV. As we were leaving (in high spirits), our driver put on some music usually reserved for weddings and we all started dancing, hooting and waving hankies in the bus. We neglected to notice that the SUV in front held our Lalish hosts. But they were excited to see us and waved hankies and beads back, laughing and smiling...