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Document Details : Title: Mandaeans in the USA Today Subtitle: The Tenacity of Traditions Author(s): BUCKLEY, Jorunn J. Journal: ARAM Periodical Volume: 7 Issue: 2 Date: 1995 Pages: 353-367 DOI: 10.2143/ARAM.7.2.2002235 Abstract : The estimated numbers of Mandaeans in the world today vary considerably, as no official statistics are available. This ancient, still surviving group of Gnostics live in Iraq and Iran, their traditional homelands, where their combined numbers may be close to 100.000. However, especially in the last part of the present century, many Mandaeans have moved to other parts of the world. The first Mandaeans to come to North America were five goldsmiths who came from Iraq to the 1939 World Exposition in New York to show their art there. At least one of them stayed through the ensuing war, designing air plane parts in Detroit. Since the recent wars in the Gulf region, Mandaeans have gone to other parts of the Near East, to Europe, to the North American continent, and to parts of the former Soviet Union. A sizeable community, at the moment of writing the only emigrant group that has priests, lives outside of Sydney, Australia. Smaller groups, families or individuals live in various cities in the USA and in Canada. A great number of Mandaean men are goldsmiths, the traditional Mandaean occupation, and there are many engineers and other professionals. In what follows, I will present, mainly through anecdotes, some of the Mandaeans I have met in the San Diego, California, community and in the New York community. About forty Mandaeans live in San Diego, while perhaps ca. two hundred or so dwell in the larger New York area. |
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