DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49271#0215
The Kababish, a Sudan Arab tribe
153
hole. The samla covers her entirely with the exception of her head. Within its folds she
has a piece of wood to stir the smouldering kitr wood when necessary, and a vessel of
dihn with which to rub herself. The smoke rises freely, and she inhales this occasionally,
pulling the cloth over her head, the whole process taking perhaps twenty minutes.
XI. Feasts and festivals. A dabiha (literally “ a killing ”, usually of a sheep) may be a
private affair, as when meat is required for the consumption of the household or for the
reception of a chance guest; when friends are invited it is called an 'azuma. Friendly
parties with no ceremonial intention were common at Showa, especially among the women,
who congregate in the tents of their wealthier relatives, where a good deal of coffee is
drunk, as well as tea flavoured with sugar and spices. A karama is a more ceremonial
affair generally, having a definitely sacrificial intent; the word comes from the root k.r.m
"to be merciful”, and giving a karama is looked upon as a more or less definitely religious
act of charity, the poor being expected to eat of the meat provided. A man would
give a karama as a sign of thanksgiving on almost any appropriate occasion, as on
recovery from illness, and Muhammad gave a karama on the safe return of his wife from
her pilgrimage. Other occasions for karama are referred to in the text, as for instance
the killing of a sheep after dreaming of a dead parent. No one of good standing would
eat of his own karama, nor would his servants eat thereof. It is a usual practice to put
a spot of blood of the animal slaughtered on the forehead of a young child.
The usual Moslem festivals are celebrated, but it seemed that they did not bulk
largely in the thoughts of the tribesmen; indeed the Kababish are not a deeply religious
people. There is a practical absence of the common superstitions concerning jinn, 'afrit,
and ghul, and very few perform the pilgrimage.79 On the Mulid en-Nebi — the birthday
of the prophet — and on the twelfth day of the month, Karama el-Ula, everyone kills a
sheep. On the 'Id es-Sughayr — the last day of Ramazan — there is public prayer in the
open on sheepskins laid on the ground early in the morning. Sheep are killed, and the
people dance and make merry for three days. On the 'Id el-Kebir (Bayram), in the month
Dahia el-Ula, the same ritual is observed. The animals killed on the tenth of the month
are supposed to commemorate Abraham’s sacrifice.
79 They contrast in this respect with the Moslem negroes of the Sudan, using the latter term to include French
territory. Except under special conditions, religious indifference seems to be characteristic of the Desert Arab. It
has been noted by Palgrave (Narrative of a Year’s Journey through central and eastern Arabia, 2 vols., London, 1865,
vol. 1, p. 33), Doughty (op. cit., vol. 1, p. 17), and Robertson Smith, whose remarks are so much to the point that we
may be permitted to quote them. “Moslem bigotry in the proper sense of the word, and indeed all earnest feeling
in connection with the religion of the Prophet, belongs, as Dozy has so forcibly pointed out, not to the Arabs, but to
the races who received the Koran from their hands. So within Arabia the mixed population of the towns and the
coast, with their large element of negro blood, are far more fanatical than the true unmixed Bedouin stems. But
even in the towns the jejune, practical, and, if I may venture to say so, constitutionally irreligious habit of the Arab
mind maintains its ascendancy, and fanaticism is well under the control of self-interest”; Lectures and essays,
p. 492.
153
hole. The samla covers her entirely with the exception of her head. Within its folds she
has a piece of wood to stir the smouldering kitr wood when necessary, and a vessel of
dihn with which to rub herself. The smoke rises freely, and she inhales this occasionally,
pulling the cloth over her head, the whole process taking perhaps twenty minutes.
XI. Feasts and festivals. A dabiha (literally “ a killing ”, usually of a sheep) may be a
private affair, as when meat is required for the consumption of the household or for the
reception of a chance guest; when friends are invited it is called an 'azuma. Friendly
parties with no ceremonial intention were common at Showa, especially among the women,
who congregate in the tents of their wealthier relatives, where a good deal of coffee is
drunk, as well as tea flavoured with sugar and spices. A karama is a more ceremonial
affair generally, having a definitely sacrificial intent; the word comes from the root k.r.m
"to be merciful”, and giving a karama is looked upon as a more or less definitely religious
act of charity, the poor being expected to eat of the meat provided. A man would
give a karama as a sign of thanksgiving on almost any appropriate occasion, as on
recovery from illness, and Muhammad gave a karama on the safe return of his wife from
her pilgrimage. Other occasions for karama are referred to in the text, as for instance
the killing of a sheep after dreaming of a dead parent. No one of good standing would
eat of his own karama, nor would his servants eat thereof. It is a usual practice to put
a spot of blood of the animal slaughtered on the forehead of a young child.
The usual Moslem festivals are celebrated, but it seemed that they did not bulk
largely in the thoughts of the tribesmen; indeed the Kababish are not a deeply religious
people. There is a practical absence of the common superstitions concerning jinn, 'afrit,
and ghul, and very few perform the pilgrimage.79 On the Mulid en-Nebi — the birthday
of the prophet — and on the twelfth day of the month, Karama el-Ula, everyone kills a
sheep. On the 'Id es-Sughayr — the last day of Ramazan — there is public prayer in the
open on sheepskins laid on the ground early in the morning. Sheep are killed, and the
people dance and make merry for three days. On the 'Id el-Kebir (Bayram), in the month
Dahia el-Ula, the same ritual is observed. The animals killed on the tenth of the month
are supposed to commemorate Abraham’s sacrifice.
79 They contrast in this respect with the Moslem negroes of the Sudan, using the latter term to include French
territory. Except under special conditions, religious indifference seems to be characteristic of the Desert Arab. It
has been noted by Palgrave (Narrative of a Year’s Journey through central and eastern Arabia, 2 vols., London, 1865,
vol. 1, p. 33), Doughty (op. cit., vol. 1, p. 17), and Robertson Smith, whose remarks are so much to the point that we
may be permitted to quote them. “Moslem bigotry in the proper sense of the word, and indeed all earnest feeling
in connection with the religion of the Prophet, belongs, as Dozy has so forcibly pointed out, not to the Arabs, but to
the races who received the Koran from their hands. So within Arabia the mixed population of the towns and the
coast, with their large element of negro blood, are far more fanatical than the true unmixed Bedouin stems. But
even in the towns the jejune, practical, and, if I may venture to say so, constitutionally irreligious habit of the Arab
mind maintains its ascendancy, and fanaticism is well under the control of self-interest”; Lectures and essays,
p. 492.