Changing Customs Of The Riverain Sudan (The Games of the Girls)
10 February, 2013
Khartoum (Sudanow)-The Social customs that were practiced by the Sudanese who live along the Nile or near itover the past century, rolled up some change due to variables of time and vicissitudes age and variability. some are still practiced even today in some parts of the riverain Sudan ,as brand Professor Abdullah Tayeb said, who collected and wrote many of these habits in Articles in the magazine (Sudan notes and records), a magazine concerned with documenting the life and history of Sudan.
Professor Abdullah Tayeb show in these articles, which he wrote it in 1955 -1956-1964-1998 years, the customs of the people of Sudan in the Nile valley from Woman's pregnancyup to marriage .
The Professor Abdullah Tayeb Institute for the Arabic language, University of Khartoum, recently published this set of articles after being translated by Mohamed Osman Makki.
D. Siddiq Omar Siddiq Director of the Institute, the importance of this articles and its place in the studying of Sudan Folklore motivated us to translate it in to Arabic.
He goes on saying it is One of the venerable knowledge which accounted for, as a multitude of research, was (Sudanese Folktale) which he wrote in Arabic, then he translated it into English with his own pen, not mentioning his other encyclopedic works, such as what he wrote in a research connected to the Sudanese colloquial Arabic Language to the Academy of Arabic Language in Cairo, and the scattering works of interest, in the numerous articles in magazine and lectures.
Abdullah Tayeb said himself ," Even as I now write this paper ,most of us are aware of the rapid change that are daily transforming Sudanese life from that of a medieval community deeply rooted in tradition, to that of an Afro-Arab nation newly born under the impact of western civilization-Many styles and modes of life-as I knew it in my boyhood-have completely disappeared, Many are in the process of fading away, And some, very few indeed, can still be described in the distant villages and among the more conventional homes. It is in the interest of students of sociology, anthropology and history to make a record of all these, before the final break-up of the old patterns takes place and new fashions and ways of living and behavior prevail.
And we will publish them on (SUDANOW) pages in this thread, and we'll start onset also began by Abdullah Tayyib himself, a customs relating to pregnancy and pre-and post-natal and related nifaas. then evolve with it in human life at the stage of early childhood, games, boyhood, education, work and marriage.
On the last issues, we spoke about the customs, From Birth to Puberty Birth and Early Infancy, then the child, the child hair, the games
here we will starts with:
The Games of the Girls
The girls, whilst looking after the goats, running errands for their mothers or collecting firewood, played games very similar to those played by the boys during the day-time. But they had their own feminine games in addition to that. And these were mainly singing and dancing games which were collectively called " Alhirdifa". An onomatopoeic work coined in imitation of the rhythmic movement. Al Hirdifa had many variations.
Two girls faced one another and each prepared for a bunny hop. Before they began the dance, they sang. Each praised her father and abused the other. For example:
Al Hirdifa
My father
The rider of the red steed
With the blazer
And your father
The rider of the cat
The walks and mews
Sometimes, they would sing of future suitors whom they would reject. For example:
O, son of the knock-kneed
O, peasant growing okra
I was not bred for your sake
I was bred by the Shaq's
The fighter, the gunners
Muhammad, my brother is without, an equal
His camel trots along, with a shackle
Sometimes the girls sang obscene songs, abusing each other, or lampooning an imaginary girl who served as a symbol for girls whom they did not lie,. For example: mu father came
From the prayers
And struck the wench
On her
The song of "um-garden" was one of the best known songs. And it was sometimes sung by little bays. "Um-gayraun" is a green little bird which was believed to be very responsive to singing. The song went as follows:
O, um gardun
O, pilgrim-bird
your son is a bride-groom , O pilgrim-bird
bought a sari and a chemise
she (that is the bird) is In her guest-room
she is giving supper to her guests
she is sitting in her kitchen hut
she is fingering her …
at right the girls songs were more elaborate and, far from being obscenity, were in fact religious hymns. Small girls of six and seven, more grown- up girls of twelve and thirteen and maidens of seventeen and eighteen would gather and light a fire and boil grain in a pan which would later be offered as an oblation to God, so that He might protect the village from epidemics and disasters. Whilst the grain was being cooked, which normally took about an hour, they sang:
The offering would withstand
The greatest of Calamities
It will drive away the disaster
O prophet accept it
It will drive away the disaster
O saint Ezaib accept it
Then they would partake ot the grain, and then walk together and sing whilst scattering some of the grain round.
The following song (or hymn) was common in the villages of the ja alryyin.
O prophet, your basin is far all
And who but you can shoulder our burden?
O, key of the paradise of the Huris
Praise be to him our precious prophet
Nowadays, such processions can be seen nowhere not even in the remote villages. Older people who still remember the days of these processions, are inclined to think that life is now generally harder, and that there are more diseases, because the village – girls no longer make the traditional offering " karama" and no longer sing the praises of the Prophet. It is interesting to note that the obscene songs have not yet died out
Folk Stories and Night Entertainment
Apart from the games and the songs, children were entertained at night by their mothers and grand-mothers, who told them stories and gave them verbal riddles to solve . all these were called "fiuja" (wisdom). "Huja" was strictly confined to the night. To tell a story or a riddle, by day (i.e idleness during the day), would cause both narrator and listener to be poor or ill, later in life. There was a traditional way of telling a riddle. It would be put in this way.
I compete with you in wisdom
I shall not deceive you
A good has come unto me and unto you
It has eaten your supper
And run away from you
The followed the actual riddle. For example:
It has entered the bush
Without a hiss
Answer: the shade.
Some riddles, intended for the younger children, would be less elaborate. For example:
There was a woman
Who had a boy and a daughter
The woman would be an aunt or a sister or a relative known to the child who was qued
The stories began with the introduction: it is said the that
There was an old…..
And ended with the formula
It has ended
It has disappeared
In the hole of the smallest of us
The following are examples of the stories which were told.
The wicked Uncle
A man travelled on pilgrimage to Mecca and left his son and daughter with his brother. Now it was the rainy season. The uncle made his nephew and niece work very hard until all the seeds which he had were sown. Then he made them weed out the grass. And later, sown. Then he made them weed out the grass. And later, when the first cobs of corn appeared, he made then erect two grow perches and spend all the day there, sitting on them to frighten the birds away .and he forbade them to eat any of the corn without his permission.
One day, however the boy got very hungry and ate a cob of the corn against the advice of his sister. When the uncle noticed the missing cob, and made enquires about it, the boy told him that it had been eaten by the crows and the sparrows.
The uncle got very angry. But he concealed his anger and said to the boy laughingly: "See that the birds do not get any more cobs, or else I shall cut off your ears".
Then sometime later he called the boy by his name "Muhammad" the boy went running to him. The girl crept along behind to find out why her brother had been called. The uncle said to Muhammad," your hair is too fuzzy and too long. You should have it shortened. Get me the blade and some water". He poured water onto the boy's hair and began to shave the back of his neck. Then he said, "what happened to the cob of corn?" the boy answered, "A sparrow or a crow got it" . then the uncle said, "Did you not cut it off with your own hand, my boy ?" " No, uncle, said the boy, "I did not do so".
"you did. My boy" said the uncle. "You did . I saw you with my own eyes. You cut it off like this". And with the blade he cut off the boy's head. Then he buried it in the ground laughing hideously.
The girl saw and heard all this. The uncle turned round and saw her hiding behind the corn. He made for her, but she ran for her life. So the uncle got on his horse and followed her. When he drew very near, she cried in despair, "O Mother Earth, swallow me". And the earth opened beneath her and closed again after she had gone in. she remained there for a long time, the uncle keeping watch nearby.
One day the earth opened and she came out. A caravan was passing by. The girl stood in the road, right in front of the caravan, and began to weep and say:
O people of the caravan
My father is dark and tall
His camel roars aloud
His whip cracks like lightning in a cloud
His dress is silken
His enemy with grief is drunken
Is he among you O people of the caravan?
My uncle, my father's brother,
Slew Muhammad, the son of my mother
Because of a cob of corn
Which by a sparrow borne
Was carried on the eastern breeze
Far beyond the seven seas
Her uncle hurried to the scene and shouted. " this girl is wicked, she is a liar, she is a runway. Bind her and deliver her to me".
No ,No" said she , "please do not do that. He is a villain. He killed my brother. Protect me from him".
The people of the caravan said, "You are a naughty girl, obey your uncle". They wanted to bind her. So she begged the earth to swallow her again, and it did so.
The uncle did not despair of seizing his niece in the end. And she did not despair of finding her father. And one day the earth opened aging and she came out. But the uncle warned the people of the caravan of her naughtiness and they helped him try to catch her. But the earth swallowed her as it had done twice before.
And so it happened several times, until the girl began to despair of ever finding her father. And her uncle thought to himself " I shouldn't be wasting my time following this little scorpion from place to place. I must get back to my land".
Just as he said this, a caravan was passing by , and the earth opened and his niece came out. She wept and called to the people of the caravan:
O people of the caravan
My father is dark and tall
His camel roars aloud
His whip cracks like lightning in a cloud
His dress is silken
His enemy with grief is drunken
Is he among you, o people of the caravan?
My uncle, my father's bother,
Slew Muhammad, the son of my mother
Because of a cob of corn,
Which, by a sparrow borne,
Which, by a sparrow borne
Was carried on the eastern breeze
Far beyond the seven seas
A tall man came forward and, recognizing her as his daughter, took her in his arms and said to her." "Where is your uncle?" Then she pointed to the place where her uncle had been, but he was trying to mount his horse. The house kicked him and ran away. And he became very frightened as the girl's father drew near with the sword of retribution naked in his hand. He cried, "O earth, swallow me". But the earth would not listen to his prayer. The father cut off his head. Then his body was burnt and his ashes were thrown into the river.
Zalote and the Hyena
Zalote was a scabby belly –goat. He had three lovely sisters. They used to go out for an hour or so in the morning and the afternoon. They had discovered a rich pasture where was an abundance of delicious grass. But Zalote always remained behind in the village where there was nothing to eat, except rags and dirt and sometimes the stones of dates. He was very lean and seemed to be getting leaner, whilst his sisters were getting fatter and fatter.
One day he said to his sister, "you grow fatter and fatter. What do you eat?.
Now they were afraid of his knowing about their rich pasture for it was the domain of a fierce hyena, knowing that their brother was very greedy, they were afraid that he might stay there until sunset, when the hyena would come and eat him up . so they said. " We eat rags and dirt and we don't find any date –stones where we graze" .
He looked hard at them. "They are Lying". He thought, and he said to them "I don't believe you. Let us put our hooves down our throats and vomit up samples of what we have eaten".
His sisters did so, because they were afraid of his anger. Their vomit was green and rich, but that of Zalote was dirty and raggy. So he said to them "Where do you find this rich grass? And he insisted that they should take him to the domain of the hyena.
But they said to him "Zalote, our brother, you are greedy and we know that you will not leave that place once you have tasted the richness of its grass". However, he insisted. So they took him with them. He was very pleased when he saw the pasture and began to eat, and forger all about the warnings of his sisters and the hyena. At sunset, he was still there, eating with great relish. His sisters begged him to leave, but he seemed not to hear them.
Then came hyena. First she approached the nanny goats. She said to the firs, what is that thing of yours that shrieks?
"It is my tongue" answered the goat.
What are those dangling things?
My ears, of course, she answered
And what are those things that shine?" asked the hyena
My eyes
And the little thing behind you, what is that?
My tail, answered she.
The hyena looked hard at her and she trembled.
And the hyena swallowed her up . then she questioned the second got in the same way, and the second goat answered as feebly as the firs, and was also swallowed up. And so it was with the third goat. Zalote was still eating.
"What is that thing of yours that shrieks?"asked the hyena, coming up to him.
"it is not a tongue which shrieks. It is my bugle of war" , answered Zalote.
"Then what are those dangling things?" she asked.
"Those are my shields, which never fail me.
"And those things that shine?.
"The fire of my eyes".
"And what are those two things on your head?"
"My pears" replied Zalote.
Then the hyena made for him, but he was not afraid. He charged the hyena and with his harms he ripped open its belly, and his sisters were spurted out. They were not dead, and were very pleased to be saved. And from that day onwards the pasture was completely theirs, with no hyena to molest them.
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