Field Notes from Bukhara (2024):
I was in Bukhara, Uzbekistan throughout April doing a CEC arts link residency. It was a really full experience. I made sweet new friends, my Russian got a lot better (it was my first time working professionally in Russian!), I had to accept being unseen sometimes (because of language, patriarchy, homophobia, differences of culture, etc.), I had a lot of sun and slow days with books and crazy beautiful views of ancient buildings. I learned about Bukharan dances and songs and rituals that combine elements of Islam, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Iranian folk culture, and sprinkles of things that only exist in Bukhara. And I learned about the leaders of these rituals: Sozandas. Sozandas lead all major life cycle rituals (like weddings or circumcisions) as well as domestic, female-specific rituals around fertility, etc. These rituals usually include elements of the Quran, Persian poetry, Zoroastrian symbols, Shashmaqam (a shared Muslim and Jewish classical music form), dance, Mavrigi (a folk music form that comes from Iran), and other cultural forms that represent the different peoples of Bukhara. The most famous Sozanda of recent history was Tafahon: a Bukharan Jewish woman. (look her up on youtube, she is iconic! ) I love that a Jewish woman was the most famous leader of rituals that were often Muslim or Zoroastrian at their core. Even though the Jews have pretty much all left Bukhara for the US or Israel, I love that there was once a shared world in diaspora where Jews and Muslims sang each other’s prayers. It gives me hope that soon ethno-religious nation states will fall into obsolescence (if they aren’t already).
During the month, I worked with the community to write recipes for peace. In the end we made a little ritual for the maintenance of / future of shared worlds. I will share a few of them here with you. I am grateful for any and all moments of hope right now. Thank you, thank you.
