A Qajar Christmas

So, your original blogger here apologizing for the fact that the blog has been LONG neglected.

It happens. I did try and avoid it becoming dormant by assigning it to someone else, but she too has a life that likes to get in the way. Yeah.... The unavoidable was bound to happen.

Anyhow, I'm not sure about updates for the other projects, but if I find out, I'll let you know. As for me, I've been working on my own on the side, and I do have some stuff to share. Not many construction pictures - actually, construction pictures are part of the reason I became too busy for the blog. Seemed like any time I started to sew, I'd end up kind of derailed because I had to stop and take pictures of what things were looking like and, it just REALLY added a lot of time to the construction. So instead of finishing in a timely manner, or what I thought was "on-time" in my mind, I was taking FOR EVER. 

Well, for lack of better explanation, I guess it works for other bloggers, but not really me. So, instead I'll regale you with photos that were taken this week for the American Duchess "Winter Wonderland" Photo Contest.

Norooz 1392

The Persian New Year has come and passed.

Sorry, I wanted to write about it beforehand, but let's face it, that's like writing about Christmas during the Christmas season.... Just too hard to do from all the busy!

Anyhow, I intend to rectify the fact now by sharing some pictures and a little of what's been going on here.

Norooz in a Sassanian gown; this is from last year, at my cousin's house.

Mehndi Madness

Warning: This post does contain nudity. What can I say, Qajars loved ladies' adornments.

All the previous posts about Mughal India and dancing girls, and mehndi was completely overlooked.

So here's a little bit about mehndi, or as we call it in Iran, henna.

 Image via... well, National Geographic... Says so right there.;)

Khaaneh ye Doost Kojast?

Finally.... After everything seemingly going as wrong as it possibly could, I've come back home.

That sign says "Kerman". Wait, how did I end up in Kerman? That seems an awfully long way to go for pistachios, carpets, and copper. 

Shab e Yalda 1391

If you've been following our Facebook page, you'll know we've been posting some (somewhat silly) videos of Christmas in the Middle East and South Asia. They've pretty much all featured a very silly interpretation of Santa Claus.

In a region of the world with a relatively low Christian population in comparison to the either Muslim, or in India's case Hindu, majority, it seems like this time of year, before the commercialization and consequent acceptance of Christmas, there wasn't much to do. (Yes, I know there's Chanukah, but that actually still is a very religious holiday that non-Jews have not adopted, and given the current strain in the region, they probably won't adopt any time soon.)

Well, for Persians though, we do have a tradition that's close to Christmas.

Shab e Yalda, also known just as "Yalda" is this Friday. It's caused some delays here in terms of sewing, but it's also given a few things to post about in lieu of the lack of sewing.

Yalda tradition extends back thousands of years as a celebration of the beginning of the end of the "darkest" days; essentially, it's celebrated on the day with the shortest daylight hours to welcome back the longer days that will be arriving. Despite being something that has been around so long, like Christmas, it really comes into it's "modern" version in the 19th century.

Image of a very simple korsi with family gathered around it by Antoin Sevruguin (gotta love this guy for all his photos!) via

Movember and the Qajar Mustachio Project

It's November now, and before I go on to post the updates for the Entari, I figured I'd take a little time to talk about Movember - November's alter-ego designed to raise awareness of men's prostate health by growing fantastic mustaches - as mustaches were quite prevalent during not only the entire Middle East and South Asia, but it seems the entire world during the 19th century.

 Mangal Pandey, famous Indian freedom fighter,. Image via Parda Phash

Gol Duzi (A Constructive Break from the Entari)

It's been silent far too long here. It's very hard to keep updates on costumes that, well, aren't moving along so fast or are just filled with boring tasks.

The entari has been giving me some trouble. I just have no desire to work on it right now. It's very tedious in a sense because it's very repetitive, but not in a way you can easily "lose" yourself in.

So I'd like to share with you another project that I've undertaken in preparation for some of the other articles of clothing I will be working on later. It's an ancient form of art from Iran, dating back thousands of years, called gol duzi. I believe in English, it may sometimes be called "Rasht work" after the city of Rasht that uses gol duzi to attach felt appliques to garments.

Detail from a panel from Rasht, Gilan, Iran, here