Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Afghan Women Gather To Celebrate Secret Ritual

Aired February 26, 2002 - 06:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Many of us take for granted the fact that we can get together with our girlfriends whenever we want to. But for women in Afghanistan, it is a rare treat.

Our Rose Arce shows us what goes on during the Afghan women's secret ritual in Kabul.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROSE ARCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They look almost like ladies of leisure coming to call. But for Afghan women, this is a day like no other.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of the girls, they should become in this party and have a lot of jokes.

ARCE: The only day in a woman's life when she can enjoy the company of other women without the constant supervision of men. So sacred a ritual, it begins with a prayer. The heads go covered one by one, candles are lit and stuck in tiny cups of sand sitting beside the steaming cups of tea. An ancient custom, we're offered a rare glimpse with our tiny camera if we promise to play by the rules.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's an occasion to celebrate happiness and prosperity, where we can gather as women and make secret wishes for our dreams to come true.

ARCE: Dreams and outright fantasies; politics and fun. Gossip about the husbands and kids, and secrets -- lots of secrets -- like the one about the secret cake, mullidah (ph), for which the party is named, which men are never supposed to see and we were forbidden to show.

(on camera): There's a story that once a man was so curious to see this mullidah (ph) that he burst into a room of women while they were having their ritual. Days later, the story says, he went blind.

(voice-over): Oh, but to be without the men for a few short hours. If only to curse the burka and shake your hips. It's not easy to follow those moves and not lose your veil.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): During the Taliban, we'd get together to make mullidah (ph), and we all knew we were wishing for peace and security. And look, it really worked. And now the situation is getting better, and maybe we'll even be able one day to throw the burka away.

ARCE: The men aren't so big on the whole ceremony. They get kicked in the kitchen to watch TV, while the women -- if only for a few idle hours -- get to dance their fears away.

Rose Arce, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com