HW34: Palms and Tea

Baghdad Burning

On Monday, October 13, 2003, Riverbend wrote a post about date palms. “A palm tree is known as a “nakhla” and never fails to bring a sense of satisfaction and admiration” (Riverbend, 103). The palm trees are beautiful and also very useful. They serve as resorts for various birds during the winter time and provide them plenty of their 300 different types of dates. Dates are used to make an alcoholic beverage, a dark, smooth syrup for rice and bread, as well as other seasonings for food. The leaves of the trees are used to make baskets, brooms, mats, bags, hats, wall hangings and it can be used for roofing. Riverbend says she enjoys using the roots of the dates as beads. Tea is also very important to Iraqis. Tea is not as easy to make as we Americans might think. “If you serve “teabag tea” to an Iraqi, you risk scorn and disdain—a teabag is an insult to tea connoisseurs” (Riverbend, 108). There are hundreds of different types of tea and the best types are from Ceylon. People drink tea at all times of the day and with all meals. Tea in Iraq is special because its flavored with cardamom and served in istikans which are small glasses shaped like the number eight. So most gatherings are usually accompanied with a nice glass of tea.