John the Baptist’s Water: Extinction of a Millennial Culture
John the Baptist’s Water: Extinction of a Millennial Culture

Author(s): Saad Salloum
Subject(s): Cultural history, Geography, Regional studies, Political history, Recent History (1900 till today), History of Religion, Identity of Collectives
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Iraq; Mandaeism; ethno-religious community; minority; nation-state building;
Summary/Abstract: At the end of filming a documentary, I sat with the Reesh Umma Sattar Jabbar Al Hilou, head of the Mandaean sect, in his religious headquarter in Qadisiya locality on the banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad. The man stood like an old angel descending from the sky with his white beard and his clothes, made up of pure white cloth, which the Mandaeans call Al Resta. He was awaiting the baptism of two new clerics.

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