First Day in Kurdistan Pt 2 - Kurdish Picnic

Click Here to See Part One

Picnics in Kurdistan are no joke, and our first day there we were able to go to one.
In Islam, Fridays are somewhat analogous to a Christian Sunday. In Kurdistan, Friday is the only day where everyone is expected to be at the mosque for prayer, while the rest of the week is is seen more as an optional thing. One thing that's pretty interesting though is that going on a picnic and skipping the Friday service is completely acceptable.

A Kurdish picnic is nothing like a western picnic though. The young men often go out into the country the night before to stake out and claim the best spots, and the next morning the whole family joins. These picnics are all day affairs, it's common to have two full meals, snacks throughout, and dancing and games in between.

Here are some pictures showing what they entail:
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This is actually my brother Aaron, who we were visiting. He can almost pass as a Kurd with that mustache!

There are no rules in Kurdistan about men and women interacting in public, but it is normal for a natural segregation to occur.

Just like in the US, the main time a man is expected to do the cooking is at a cookout. Chicken or beef kebab is the go to meal.

Backgammon (the game on the back our chess boards) is the go to game in Kurdistan.

Here's a group of guys playing cards. They would usually bet 1000 dinar (about $1) on each game.

Kurdish dancing is... interesting. The most common dance involves linking pinkies and doing a very simple step over and over again. One dance with the same dance step would last over a half hour sometimes.

Here's our picnic location.

Carrie and I had to get a photo.

All of these photos (except the one I'm in) were taken with a FujiFilm X-T1 and Fujinon 35mm f/2 lens.

Stay tuned for more pictures of the trip!