HW 34: Evening Tea

When reading Riverbend’s Baghdad Burning October 9th through 29th I read about the tea tradition in Iraq. The tea is served to the entire family at once while sitting in the living room together, the making of the tea is something that differs however, who the tea is served to and the serving time is not. Tea is served in many ways depending on the family but there is a basic 3-step process that tea is made in Iraq. The water is boiled then tealeaves are added and lastly it is all put in to a different kettle and heated until the leaves rise to the surface of the kettle and allowed to settle again (Riverbend 108-109). Tea is never served by a tea bag, in fact that is considered an insult to Iraqi’s due to their expertise of tea and the way it is served. The drinking of tea together is their family’s way to have conversation and enjoy each other’s company. The conversations they have range from the current political situation of Iraq to what each of their days consisted of, they do this voluntarily and often look forward to their evening tea as a family. This is a custom I am envious of, I feel that it is a time some families may take advantage of and use it for other things where most if not all would benefit from a time such as evening tea to be together and catch up on their lives and events in their area. “Unlike the typical family conversation around the world ‘How was your day dear?’ doesn’t get at typical answer in Iraq. Depending on who is being asked, the answer varies from stories of abductions to hijackings, to demonstrations, to empty gas cylinders and burned out water pumps” (Riverbend 109). This is something needed both information wise and bonding, the time spent making sure they know what is going on and how they feel about it is so vital to their relationship as a family.