#bukharan

Celebrate Love, Central Asian Style!

Celebrate Uyghur & Central Asian Culture! Saturday, February 17, 2018 JOE’S MOVEMENT EMPORIUM 3309 Bunker Hill Road Mt. Rainier, Maryland 20712 (Just 1o minutes from downtown DC) 301-699-1819  www.joesmovement.org 5:30 pm  Bazaar Opens 6:00 pm  Silk Road Buffet (limited availability) 7:00 pm   Concert Begins In a special concert scheduled for Saturday, February 17th, the 4th Biennial Silk Road…

Yeah!!! 

In the Middle Ages, Bukhara and Samarqand (modern Uzbekistan) were part of the Persian cultural world, and so they shared in the tradition of elaborate Persian-style henna patterns, at least as far as we can tell from manuscript illustrations (see this post for an overview). One such painting from Bukhara, ca. 1565, shows a woman with hennaed fingernails and stripes on her fingers, with additional designs in cartouches (perhaps flowers? Or calligraphy?) on her palm (here is a close-up of the painting, in the British Museum):

A very similar scene (attributed to the same artist), showing a very similar henna pattern, is shown in a painting in the Smithsonian Freer Sackler Museum from Bukhara, ca. 1550. Another painting in the Freer from Bukhara, ca. 1558, shows a similar pattern — hennaed nails and stripes, and a cartouche on the back of the hand: 

There’s also yet another painting in the Louvre that I saw a few years ago, also from Bukhara, showing a similar design, so it seems that this may have actually been a regional style. Catherine Cartwright-Jones suggests that these cartouches may have even had magical or talismanic functions, although I’m not sure.

Unfortunately, as in other parts of Persia, this style of henna pattern died out during the Qajar dynasty as fashions turned more towards a European-influenced aesthetic. But people in Bukhara definitely continued to use henna, right until the present day! 

And that includes Bukhari Jews for sure. The henna ceremony was known in Bukhari communities as ḥanabandan (”tying the henna”), as it was in Iran. The groom had a henna ceremony too, known as shab-e jubanan (”the night of the bachelors”), although it was common for him to have only his pinkie hennaed, while the bride had both her hands and feet hennaed. 

A Jewish bridal party in Bukhara, ca. 1871, from the LOC

The henna was brought from the groom’s house and placed on a small table known as khanche-ye ḥana (the henna tray) along with candles, sweets, fruit, and a sugar cone wrapped with colourful ribbons. Apparently the Bukharan community served a special pilaf for the henna ceremony too... When the henna had dried, it was wrapped up in special cloths known as ḥanaband and tied with ribbons (saghpich), hence the name of the ceremony.

And henna was not just for weddings, but was also used as a general cosmetic, to celebrate holidays and other happy occasions. In this image of a Bukhari Jewish family (taken in Jerusalem in 1925 by German-Jewish photographer Abraham Pisarek), you can see that everyone is dressed in festive clothing and the girl’s fingernails have been hennaed.

I previously featured another photo from Samarqand ca. 1905, showing Bukkhari Jewish girls with hennaed fingernails, here. A close-up:

The Bukharan Quarter, Jerusalem

A friend recently visited NYC from Washington, D.C. and wanted to grab a weekday lunch.  When I asked him for any restaurant or cuisine preferences, he responded that he wanted to try something that you couldn't find in D.C.  After some frantic google searching for interesting restaurants in the midtown area, I found Taam Tov, a kosher Uzbek restaurant specializing in Bukharan cuisine (according to Google and the New York Times).  

Although reviews mentioned the limited selection for vegetarians, from my review of the menu, it still seemed like a great place for lunch - lots of salads, breads and vegetable sides, or basically what I eat for lunch (or dinner) every day!  

We shared a few vegetarian items, including the baba ganosh, salad Taam Tov, and the big Lepeshka bread.

The baba ganosh was very tasty - extremely creamy with a very subtle eggplant flavor.  I think it was my favorite dish, and definitely a very large offering for an appetizer portion.

The salad Taam Tov was a little less interesting - as pictured, it was basically some chunks of vegetables with some herbs and a light sauce.  It was fairly bland, but of course a nice light addition to a lunch.

The Lepeshka was a fairly tasty, HUGE bread that I think had I ordered a more stewed vegetable dish would have been a great, light and bready accompaniment.  

I can definitely see myself back at Taam Tov again one day, mostly because of the price, proximity to my job and no wait when we arrived.  None of the dishes - including the meat dish my friend ordered - were mind-blowing, and the vegetarian options are limited, but overall Taam Tov was a pleasant experience.  So if you find yourself looking for a new lunch place in midtown, don't let the 3rd floor location and narrow steps dissuade you, and check out Taam Tov.

Taam Tov

41 W. 47th Street, 3rd Floor

New York, NY 10036