That’s the best title I could come up with before heading out for the dart league. I saw some footage of the stampede in Iraq and noticed something I’ve seen often it seems. As best I can recall, I’ve only seen this among Arabs. Almost all women, but maybe a man or two.
When a woman discovers that a loved one is lost, many seem to do this thing while crying that looks like they’re slapping the side of their face. Well, it’s more of a hard brushing move, not really a full on slap. I think I may have seen this with Jewish women as well.
It seems like some sort of action that is just learned because that’s what others do in such a circumstance. A cultural thing, if you will. But in case that’s not it, I wanted to ask to find out. Is it some sort of guilt thing where they’re punishing themselves, somehow? Please help clarify this for me. Thanks
Form of self-flagellation are commonly associated with grief for some Arabs, particularly the Shi’a sect of Islam. Most of those dead in the recent stampede were Shi’a, so the mourners you saw probably were Shi’a also. The face-slapping one appears to be for personal grief, while the symbolic slapping of the chest and back with two hands together is more commonly used in a religious context, mourning for Shi’a martyrs such as 'Ali and Husayn.
There’s certainly an element of guilt in the religious self-flagellation - they’re symbolically punishing themselves for failing to defend 'Ali and Husayn from their enemies 1300+ years ago. I believe it’s not a religious imperative, but a cultural accretion to the faith. While the face-slapping and two-hand beating have apparently been around for ages, the more extreme forms of self-flagellation (involving hitting yourself with a chain or even lacerating with a knife) appear to have become more popular in modern times.