Iraq: Iraq Art / Culture Profile

Iraq has one of the world's oldest cultural histories. See: History of Iraq. Unlike a lot of Arab nations, it embraces and celebrates the achievements of its completed in pre-Islamic times. What is presently Iraq was once part of the Cradle of Civilization in ancient Mesopotamia and the culture of Sumer, from which the initial known wheel was recovered, flourished there. In the 8th century and 9th century the Islamic Abbasid Caliphs presided over what was again the world's leading civilization, rich in science, art and literature.

cuisine

The Iraqi cuisine is generally a heavy cuisine with additional spices than most Arab cuisines. Iraq's major food crops include wheat, barley, rice, vegetables, and dates. Vegetables include eggplant, okra, potatoes, and tomatoes. Beans such as chickpeas and lentils are as well completely common. Common meats in Iraqi cooking are lamb and beef; fish and poultry are as well used. Soups and stews are often prepared and served with rice and vegetables. Although Iraq is not a coastal area, the people is used to consuming fish, however, freshwater fish is additional common than saltwater fish. Masgouf is one of the majority popular dishes. Biryani, although influenced by Indian cuisine, is much milder with a different mixture of spices and a wider variety of vegetables inclunding potatoes, peas, carrots and onions part others. Dolma is as well one of the popular dishes. The Iraqi cuisine is famous for its extremely tender kabab inclunding its tikka. A wide variety of spices, pickles and Amba are as well extensively used.

Cultural heritage

Iraq is a country of a wide and varied heritage, home to Christians, Muslims, Kurds, Jews, Assyrians, and "Marsh Nomads", amongst countless others. As such, a lot of have contributed to the wide spectrum of Iraqi Culture.

Traditional music consists of instruments such as ouds, flutes, violins, drums, and tambourines. Presently however, there are a lot of young artists generating pop, rap, and wider types of musical genres. Umm Kulthum and Fairouz are two woman singers renowned for their voices and particularly cherished in Iraq. In fact, the common guitar, an American emblem, evolved from the guitar of ancient Iraq.

Tea houses are commonly scattered over Iraq, and in the afternoon it is a habit for shopkeepers to retreat into the back with a close circle of friends to sip tea over gossip, an Iraqi "siesta".

Rites of passage are mainly centered on children being schooled enough to correctly read the Quran, completely the challenging task. The Quran is perhaps one of the hardest texts to read, both because of depth of meaning and due to the difficult range of sounds Arabic demands from the human vocal cords. The child with least pronunciation errors is called the "hafiz" or "memorizer". There is usually a large celebration in the child's honor.

Marriages and births are enormous arts of Iraqi life. It is common to have hundreds of people attend weddings. Although there are some arranged marriages, a couple must acknowledge before entering into it, and there are very low divorce rates in Iraq, though it is acceptable and fairly easy under Islamic doctrine.

Nonetheless, Arabs believe that wisdom comes with wrinkles in old age, and as such grandparents and parents are highly respected. It is seen as a huge disgrace and very embarrassing if a child publicly sasses or is rude to someone of the elder generation.

As in other Arab nations, the left hand is used for sanitary activities inclunding the restroom, and the right hand is used for food and greeting; offering to shake with the left hand may be perceived as an insult, and eating with the left hand embarrassing. Iraqis are a very passionate people, and their conversations will often be adorned with a lot of hand gestures.

Generosity is highly valued in Iraqi culture, and it is seen as rude to snub someone asking a favor. This is heightened particularly during the month of Ramadan, at the same time as it is necessary to give zakat or donations to the poor. A lot of families, rich and poor alike, cook for the homeless, or even invite them to dinner. Some prepare plates of baklavah to take to them, or a dish of kebob.