“May figs be planted in your hearth!”

Because of the sacred hearth’s identity with the family, its fire must be guarded carefully and treated piously.  Fire from the hearth should not be given out to strangers or enemies who might defile it or endanger the family.  To lend fire to another so that she might rekindle her own hearth is to treat the borrower like an intimate family member.  Such lending signifies acceptance and trust—the highest compliments one family can give another.

The hearth, of course, provides many practical benefits to the family.  It creates heat, produces fumigants (which relieve the house of insects), and cooks food.  The last product—food—is also sacred.  Eating together not only strengthens sacred family bonds, but it also establishes spiritual links with people outside the home.  Food sharing symbolically extends the hearth and family essence to others.

Dropping in on a family at mealtime is a special act.  To such an unexpected guest people say, “Your mother-in-law must like you!”  The guest is invited to the table, and even if he has already eaten he should take at least one mouthful of food so as to demonstrate symbolically his socio-spiritual ties with the host family.  Families also demonstrate their socio-spiritual bonds with the community by sharing food on holy days and whenever neighbors are in need.  The traditional ashure custom is an interesting example of this sharing.

Ashure is a sweet dish, containing at least seven kinds of fruits and vegetables, prepared by the eldest woman of a household for the Tenth of Muharrem.  (Muharrem is the first month of the Islamic lunar year.  This date commemorates the death of Husain, Caliph Ali’s son.)  After cooking it in a large container, the woman covers it with a tray and calls a person knowledgeable of the Qur’an to read or recite prayers over it.  Later, she divides the ashure up into smaller containers.  Younger members of the family then distribute the small containers of ashure to relatives, friends, and neighbors.  People say they should be distributed to at least seven different households.  Each recipient reciprocates by saying the expected religious formula—“May Allah accept your good deed”—to the giver.

Not only does each family extend its essence to the community by sharing holy food prepared by its woman on its fire, but each family also promotes good fortune through the ashure custom.