Baghdad Burning

Seabury Stoneburner

Nina Perez

WST 3015

5 April 2010

“Christmas in Baghdad…”

War can put a very large impact on one’s life. Everything can be affected, whether being major or minor. A woman named Riverbend Enloe created a blog about her daily life experience during the war in Iraq. She goes into great detail expressing everything that happens to share with the world how different life can be when your homeland becomes a war zone.

Christmas seems to have the same holiday idea throughout the world. In Islam, Riverbend grew up in a neighborhood with a number of Christian families. They would have plastic Christmas trees decorated and even the front gardens would have twinkling lights. Whether being Christian or Muslim, the Christmas spirit was through the air and among the people. The children even believed in the jolly man “Kids in Iraq also believe in Santa Claus, but people here call him 'Baba Noel' which means, "Father Noel". I asked the children what he looked like and they generally agreed that he was fat, cheerful, decked in red and had white hair” (Enloe). Under the living conditions in Iraq, Baba Noel does not go down chimneys and on top of that, he does not come in the middle of the night because that is considered “rude”. Baghdad’s annual tradition was pretty similar to most countries “The annual ritual around Christmas for many Christians in Baghdad used to be generally hanging out with family and friends on Christmas Eve, exchanging gifts and food… and the Armenian club” (Enloe). These traditions have some similarity and difference among other cultures.

This particular year was very different during the Christmas season. There were no lights outside because people did not want to attract any threats to their homes. The service that year was quite early with very little attendees because many did not feel safe to drive around Baghdad, plus, due to security situations many couldn’t spend time with their families. Riverbend just went over to a neighbor’s house and sat around without hardly any traditional rituals. The war had disrupted the traditions of the Christmas season and made it a hard time for most families.

This particular blog entry seemed to be a combination between a personal and educational form. Riverbend wrote the blog to educate people who are not in Iraq what happened through her personal experiences, “Her voice is clear, engaging, sarcastic, angry, fearful, and also generous, as she explains what many readers outside Iraq were not learning through mainstream media reporting” (Kirk 504). She tells us how the war had affected her family’s Christmas and at the same time; the reader learns how hard the times really were. She goes into depth about the traditional forms of Christmas every year and then explains how that certain year was different. One who is reading this blog is discovering how families were split apart through Riverbend’s personal experience. It would seem very difficult for one to imagine spending a Christmas during an event like this; however, Riverbend’s personal experience was very descriptive for the readers to learn. At one point in her blog she transcribes a complete phone conversation between two Iraqis people. Her translation helps the reader know exactly how big of a deal it is to hear from family members because many just have to have wishful thinking, hoping that their loved ones are alive. Like all her blogs about the war in Iraq, people are able to learn how the war affects those who are literally surrounded by it.

Work Cited:

Enloe, Riverbend. "Christmas in Baghdad." Web log post. Baghdad Burning. 26 Dec. 2003. Web. 3 Apr. 2010. .

Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Violence Against Women." Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 493-509.