Easter in Jordan Part II, or Happy Egg

Writing about Easter the other day reminded me of a story a friend of mine told me last year. It's not a long story, but to me quite funny, and also indicative of how little many Muslims here know about the Christians who live amongst them.

According to my friend, two years ago on Easter he wanted to wish his Christian friend a good Easter. Being a Muslim, however, he was apparently unsure of exactly how to do that, as he proceeded to say to his friend not "Happy Easter," or "Have a good Easter"--or something along those lines--but instead, "Happy Egg." He said after this his friend had a good laugh at him. I didn't catch if his friend then took the opportunity to tell him what Easter is all about, but I do know that he at least found out from him that "Happy Egg" is a dubious Easter salutation. It is, however, the thought that counts.

Easter in Jordan

Yesterday was Easter here in Jordan. Since Easter occurred a month ago at home, this may surprise a lot of people who read this, but we celebrate Easter here according to the Orthodox calendar, which is different from the western calendar. Since Sunday is the first day of the work week here, Easter Sunday is, of course, different from Easter Sunday at home. Christians may have the day off--although not necessarily--but everyone else is working, or does whatever else they do on a regular day of the week. Also, at the most the population of Jordan is around 5 percent Christian, so very few people were actually celebrating the holiday.

Still, there were signs that Easter was being celebrated here. At 11 o'clock the night before we could hear the bells from a church ringing in the distance, calling worshippers to a pre-Easter, midnight service. As I sat in the windowsill, taking in the cool night air and enjoying the absence of almost any other sound, it was a simple, beautiful reminder of the coming of the day. Also, it is traditional here for Christians to visit their friends and family on Sunday after the Easter service and for one or two days afterwards, like Muslims do during their two Eids. We have several Christian families on our street, and as a result on Sunday we saw a steady stream of people outside our apartment making the rounds in their best clothes. At times we could hear them laughing or just talking loudly--cheerful sounds that we don't always hear on our street. This helped--along with the church bells--in a small way to give the day a festive, holiday atmosphere, at least in the area around our apartment.

Happy Easter From Jordan!

Mapping Amman

Among the many things about Amman that struck me when we first moved here was a simple, yet extremely noticeable detail: the city had few street names and few actual addresses. This seemed strange to me--especially for a city of several million people--since I was coming from a city like Minneapolis, where every kind of street is named and which runs on a straight and easy grid pattern, making any destination easy to find if you just know the address. Because of the lack of street names and building numbers here, however, most destinations are not always so easy to find. Instead, if you want someone to find your home, for instance, you end up pointing people to the nearest large landmark, then to a certain falafal shop, then a certain number of streets, and so on. Or, to find someones home you have to navigate directions like those we were given below (some details have been taken out):

From _____ go under the tunnel toward _____. Continue straight through _____.
Take the first right (at a toy store).
Go through two stop signs. After the second, turn left at the next street.
Go until the road T's. Turn right.
Take the second left.
This is a dead end street--they are at the end--#____ on the right.
Their apartment is on the ____ floor--use the middle set of doors and head up the stairs.

Recently Annamarie ran into some German tourists near our apartment who asked her for directions to a certain restaurant. They were frustrated, as they couldn't find any reliable maps, and even if they could, they said, nobody they asked could tell them where the street was that they were looking for.

Perhaps, however, this is changing, as a few months ago big, blue numbers like this began appearing on buildings in many parts of Amman.


Then, new street signs like this one began appearing at intersections throughout Amman.


I don't know if these streets already had names but just weren't signed, or if they got names and signs at the same time. Whatever the case, it appears that in the future, navigating the city will be easier for me--and for German tourists.

Living Overseas 101

"WE DO NOT NEED TO UNDERSTAND OTHER PEOPLE AND THEIR CUSTOMS FULLY TO INTERACT WITH THEM AND LEARN IN THE PROCESS; IT IS MAKING THE EFFORT TO INTERACT WITHOUT KNOWING ALL THE RULES, IMPROVISING CERTAIN SITUATIONS THAT ALLOW US TO GROW."
Mary Catherine Bateson, writer and cultural anthropologist