Pandama

Pandama

Left: A Mandaean wearing a burzinqa (turban) and pandama (cloth covering the mouth) with a margna (staff), at a 2019 Parwanaya festival in Maysan Governorate, Iraq
Type	mouth-veil
Material	cloth
Place of origin	southern Iraq and southwestern Iran

The pandama (Classical Mandaic: ࡐࡀࡍࡃࡀࡌࡀ) is a mouth-veil worn by Mandaean men during baptismal ceremonial rituals. It is the lower end of a cloth wrapped around the mouth and lower face to protect from water during immersion. The upper end of the cloth is used as a turban (burzinqa).^[1]

In the Qulasta

Further information: Qulasta § List of prayers

Several prayers in the Qulasta are recited when putting on and loosening the pandama, including prayers 7 and 55.^[2]

Symbolism

According to Shahram Ebadfardzadeh, an Iranian-American yalufa (learned Mandaean layperson) in San Antonio, Texas, United States, "when the priest officiates, he is an angel, and his lower face must not be seen, but covered up."^[3]: 29

See also

• Mandaean priest § Clothing
• Litham, a similar veil covering the lower face worn by Tuareg men
• Alasho, a similar turban veil worn by Hausa men

References

1. Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people (PDF). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515385-5. OCLC 65198443.
2. Drower, E. S. (1959). The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
3. Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2023). 1800 Years of Encounters with Mandaeans. Gorgias Mandaean Studies. Vol. 5. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-4632-4132-2. ISSN 1935-441X.