DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0204
142
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
If we are right in supposing that erection of the hegil dates back to an older social
organisation, we must suppose that the expression “he built [a tent] over her” is not so
old as “he went in unto her”. The practice of the husband’s providing the tent poles
for the hegil while the rest of the tent is provided by the bride’s people probably represents
a stage transitional to that condition of full patrilocal marriage which is found among the
Arabs of Mecca, of Syria, and of Morocco.
Before leaving this subject it may be worth while to say something concerning the
marriage of the sedentary Arabs. The Dar Hamid, through whose territory we passed
after leaving Bara, may be regarded as fairly typical representatives. Unlike the nomads,
who never make round tents or shelters, the Dar Hamid, and as far as we know, all other
sedentaries, build a homestead consisting of a number of round tukls of the ordinary Sudan
form, the only reminiscence of the rectangular Arab tent being the oblong flat-roofed
rdkuba which forms the entrance to the tukl. It is in this rakuba, built usually of
dry grass or dura stalks, that the master of the house lives and receives his companions.
The Dar Hamid build a small hut called birsa, (literally “mats”) near the bride’s father’s
house, and there the bridegroom spends the first nights with his bride. The dowry is
paid to the bride’s father, who hands over part to the mother. The proportion varies
among the different divisions, but the mother usually receives the larger share. The
mother buys jewelry, clothes, and household goods for the daughter. The bride stays
with her parents for the first two or three years of her married life, and usually a child is
born before her husband builds a tukl for her. Yet if after two or three years she has not
borne a child, she will probably join her husband and only return to her mother’s tukl for
the delivery of her first child, after which the husband gives his mother-in-law dura and
sheep and perhaps, if he is a rich man, a camel.
Unlike the Kababish, the sedentary tribes pay a smaller dowry for their father’s
brothers’ daughters than they do for a stranger. The Dar Hamid said that when a man
married his father’s brother’s daughter mahr was paid to the bride’s mother only. Two
of our informants had made this marriage: one had paid £4 to the bride’s mother, and he
stated that if he had married a stranger he would have been obliged to pay about £10 to
the girl’s mother, and £4 to her father, and in addition a quantity of corn and five sheep
to the mother. The second informant had paid £10, five sheep, and a camel load of dura
in theory. Children born out of wedlock remain with their mother. This condition of affairs prevails also among
the Say'ar, the Karab, the Zubyan, and the Merad of the eastern part of Yemen, and among the Ba Kazim of the lower
Aulaki. In the tribe of el-Marazik on the upper Aulaki, the girls are said to be entirely free to the tribesmen, and
the children of such unions are called zenuirn. (presumably from z.n.y.). It is said that among the Marazik the
custom has for its purpose an increase in the number of the tribe, the military advantage claimed, and the special
term applied to the custom, el-fahal talik, suggests that even here it is regarded as an anomaly, and seems to hint at
a survival. These examples are from Landberg, Arabica, IV, 1897, p. 25-27, who, appears to have taken much
trouble to obtain reliable information, though he did not himself visit the tribes whose habits he records.
C. G. and B. Z. Seligman
If we are right in supposing that erection of the hegil dates back to an older social
organisation, we must suppose that the expression “he built [a tent] over her” is not so
old as “he went in unto her”. The practice of the husband’s providing the tent poles
for the hegil while the rest of the tent is provided by the bride’s people probably represents
a stage transitional to that condition of full patrilocal marriage which is found among the
Arabs of Mecca, of Syria, and of Morocco.
Before leaving this subject it may be worth while to say something concerning the
marriage of the sedentary Arabs. The Dar Hamid, through whose territory we passed
after leaving Bara, may be regarded as fairly typical representatives. Unlike the nomads,
who never make round tents or shelters, the Dar Hamid, and as far as we know, all other
sedentaries, build a homestead consisting of a number of round tukls of the ordinary Sudan
form, the only reminiscence of the rectangular Arab tent being the oblong flat-roofed
rdkuba which forms the entrance to the tukl. It is in this rakuba, built usually of
dry grass or dura stalks, that the master of the house lives and receives his companions.
The Dar Hamid build a small hut called birsa, (literally “mats”) near the bride’s father’s
house, and there the bridegroom spends the first nights with his bride. The dowry is
paid to the bride’s father, who hands over part to the mother. The proportion varies
among the different divisions, but the mother usually receives the larger share. The
mother buys jewelry, clothes, and household goods for the daughter. The bride stays
with her parents for the first two or three years of her married life, and usually a child is
born before her husband builds a tukl for her. Yet if after two or three years she has not
borne a child, she will probably join her husband and only return to her mother’s tukl for
the delivery of her first child, after which the husband gives his mother-in-law dura and
sheep and perhaps, if he is a rich man, a camel.
Unlike the Kababish, the sedentary tribes pay a smaller dowry for their father’s
brothers’ daughters than they do for a stranger. The Dar Hamid said that when a man
married his father’s brother’s daughter mahr was paid to the bride’s mother only. Two
of our informants had made this marriage: one had paid £4 to the bride’s mother, and he
stated that if he had married a stranger he would have been obliged to pay about £10 to
the girl’s mother, and £4 to her father, and in addition a quantity of corn and five sheep
to the mother. The second informant had paid £10, five sheep, and a camel load of dura
in theory. Children born out of wedlock remain with their mother. This condition of affairs prevails also among
the Say'ar, the Karab, the Zubyan, and the Merad of the eastern part of Yemen, and among the Ba Kazim of the lower
Aulaki. In the tribe of el-Marazik on the upper Aulaki, the girls are said to be entirely free to the tribesmen, and
the children of such unions are called zenuirn. (presumably from z.n.y.). It is said that among the Marazik the
custom has for its purpose an increase in the number of the tribe, the military advantage claimed, and the special
term applied to the custom, el-fahal talik, suggests that even here it is regarded as an anomaly, and seems to hint at
a survival. These examples are from Landberg, Arabica, IV, 1897, p. 25-27, who, appears to have taken much
trouble to obtain reliable information, though he did not himself visit the tribes whose habits he records.