Who Stole Christmas in Dushanbe?

As I mentioned previously, we haven't been seeing anywhere near the level of Christmas decorations that we saw in Dushanbe last year. Of course, here it's more about celebrating the New Year, but thanks to the Soviet Union, Christmas and New Years are sort of rolled into one and it all looks familiar.

Last year there were Christmas tree-shaped lights everywhere and Santa Clauses (Grandfather Frost if you're Soviet), and other decorations. This year, almost nothing. My staff are under the impression that this is because the President wants the only New Year's holiday to be the Persian New Year - Navruz - which is celebrated in March. There's no confirmation that this is true, and my Russian instructor tells me that this has been going on for several years and so far hadn't had much effect. We'll see if Dushanbe gets in the spirit later.

Given all of this, I was very surprised to see a guy in a Santa costume on the corner of the main intersection in town on my way home today. He was passing out leaflets, but he had run out before I got to him. It was just a very bizarre thing to see here.

Of course, Stephanie and I are making sure that Christmas is alive and well at home. We had a large portion of my staff over on Sunday to show them what we do to celebrate the holidays. Everyone had a good time and although it was supposed to be a traditional American Christmas party, we couldn't help but indulge in some local-style vodka toasting along with the sugar cookies.

I don't know where this next part fits in, but we got a good laugh the other day when one of the cafeteria staff misspelled chicken pieces as chicken piss. We met with the cafeteria management recently to suggest some more variety in the menu selection, but that wasn't what we had in mind.

On a more somber note, one of my staff suddenly lost his brother to a heart attack last week. One thing about our team, though, is that they are very close-knit and several of them took time off to be with him. Of course, here, the tradition is to hold the burial within a day at the most, so things move quickly. That evening I was also able to go and express my condolences and support.

It was very different from what I would expect to see in a similar situation in the U.S. Many people were coming and going to pay their respects rather than having one big moment. When we arrived, those of us who were there sat down on a bench outside while another of my employees said a prayer. It was in Tajiki, so I didn't understand it, but it sounded nice anyway as it was sort of sung or chanted rather than spoken.

My other colleagues explained that friends and neighbors will help take care of the family for the first week or so, but then things sort of shift and for the first 40 days, people will come several times a week to honor the deceased and the family will need to provide food for them. After the first 40 days, there will be a large feast and then these visits will continue on a lesser scale until a year has passed and the mourning period officially ends.

He told me that this tradition is slowly changing because of the burden it puts on the family. Imagine the cost of feeding groups of people a couple times a week for a year. Especially in a country with so much poverty. Still, I think it's a nice idea that people are there to support the family over time. My employee told me that now more and more people are simplifying the tradition and serving tea rather than a full blown meal, which is much more manageable.

While I'm very sorry for my employee's loss, I'm heartened to see the level of support he has. One thing about a two-year assignment is that you get to see a little of everything. A great deal of what I see is disheartening, but there are a lot of positives as well. Seeing the way that people here honor their loved ones and getting to be a part of it was definitely a positive.