An Iraqi Mandean couple laugh together after their marriage on the
Tigris river in Baghdad June 8, 2003. Iraqi devotees of an obscure
religion who take John the Baptist as their central figure perform
virginity tests on their brides and take a dip in the murky Tigris
river every Sunday to purify the soul. Most of the worldAEs 20,000 or
so Mandeans live in southern Iraq and southwestern Iran. REUTERS/Faleh
Kheiber

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