Saturday, October 10, 2009

Surprising connections in the adoption of customs

We attended a Dewali festival tonight, the Hindu Festival of Lights, which marks the end of the monsoon season.

Most of the women wore saris and some of the men wore traditional slender-legged trousers and long jackets. But some men showed up in jeans and T-shirts.

This made me think of Iran where women are required to wear a head scarf and a manteau, the dark knee-length coat. BTW, manteau is French for coat. But underneath their manteau many young women wear jeans and athletic shoes.

And around the world you find many men wearing blue jeans, including Iran and the Arabic countries. Ironically, blue jeans were first manufactured by a Jewish merchant in California - Levi Strauss!