Archive for 2009
Defeat of the Ajuran by the Gugundhabe
The Aguran driven from the Webi by the Badi ‘Addä and Galga ‘el.
“In ancient times the Badi ‘Addä lived at Kahandalä. The Abgal later lived in that locality. It is near the sea (Kahandalä). This locality of Kahandalä, the Badi ‘Addä say, was near Märeg, on the coast in the southwest of Obbia, on the borders of the territory held today by the Abgal Waeslä and by the Habar Gidir. The Badi ‘Addä emigration from Kahandalä to the territory then held by the Mogosilä and Aguran therefore represents one more episode in the struggle of the tribes of pastoralists from the woodland to reach the river. Then (the Badi ‘Addä) emigrated from there. They came here. When they came here, the Agurän and the Mogosilä lived in these places. First of all, the Galgä‘el and they (Badi ‘Addä) are brothers. (Galgä‘el) is their maternal uncle (of the Badi ‘Addä). The Galgä‘el, or rather their founder, is the “maternal uncle” of the Badi ‘Addä, because the mother of the Badi ‘Addä, according to the genealogies, was a sister of Galgä‘el. ). Galgä‘el left his territory and went to Kahandalä and asked them for help (the Badi ‘Addä). Then they left together: ‘We shall go to our land!’ Then the Mogosilä and the Agurän lived together. They made war. The Mogosilä thus were made to emigrate from the country. The Mogosilä therefore emigrated from the Webi before the Aguran.“The Aguran lived from Mogadiscio as far as Ilig. Then they held an assembly. They met by the pool of Beha above Sibay. Then the Sultan said: ‘Here we shall hold an assembly. Everyone shall come tomorrow!’ Everyone brought a camel loaded with durra and butter and milk and a slaughtered animal. Then (the Sultan) said: — In ancient times there was water in the pool of Beha –. When they came to the pool, he (the Sultan) said: ‘Keep silent; I shall talk.’ Then he-said: ‘Now water is there in this pool. Anyone who would say leave the water and do not take it is cursed. By now it is cursed. By now it is finished!’ he said. ‘Let us emigrate from here.’ Then the Badi ‘Addä entered their territory.
“The Aguran had much arrogance. A Badi ‘Addä composed a distich:
If arrogance had led to anything, the Aguran would not have left the country.
“What was the controversy at first? The Galgä‘el and the Aguran fought each other first. Then the Galgä‘el were vanquished. They became afraid. Then they went in search of the Badi ‘Addä. They went to them at Kahandalä. They said: ‘Now we have neither brothers nor others. We want to be helped.’ They obtained help from us. The Badi ‘Addä, when they left Kahandalä, were only sixty persons and carried gourds. In the gourds they carried water. For this reason they are given the nickname of: ‘Badi ‘Addä of the gourds’. bo‘or is the water container produced from a dried gourd. Hence the nickname bo‘orräy given to the Badi ‘Addä. It was when the Badi ‘Addä helped the Galgä‘el; and the Aguran were vanquished.”
References;
Enrico Cerulli “How a Hawiye tribe use to live”
Humorous folktale of the Hawiyya tribes
The Arab and the Abgal women
An Arab, having just come from the Arabian peninsula and who did not understand anything in our language, was sitting in his store one day. A woman entered the store. She bought something. When she had bought something, she stopped a while to look at the new goods that were in the store. The Arab was first of all an Arab, and when he had taken her money, he began to be suspicious. ‘Go away!’ he wanted to say and he did not know the language; he proceeded to say: ‘yâ bint, yâ bint sau gál sau gál’ (The Arab wanted to say ‘Go away!’ but in his ignorance of the Somali, instead he says, pronouncing it badly: so gal, which means the opposite: ‘Enter)
The woman was surprised. She went into the store once more. The Arab again cried: ‘sau gál sau gál!’ And then what did he do? He seized the stick and beat the woman! There was screaming. People ran up. They said: ‘Oh what are these beatings for?’ ‘Well!’ he said, ‘I said: sau gál sau gál, and this one entered my house. Cursed Somalis!’ ”
A misunderstanding between Hawiyya and Rahanweyn
“The Rahanwên, in their language, if they say harbarta, it is ‘your wife.’ One of us and an Elay who had come in search of hire in Mogadiscio. Elay cameleer who was trying to get a load in Mogadiscio for the return trip. ) quarreled. ‘Well!’ the Elay exclaimed. ‘What a bad language the Hawíyya is! The wife with whom you sleep, do you suck her breast?’ ‘You do worse’ the boy said, ‘the mother who gave birth to you, you sleep with her’ .The misunderstanding is caused by the different meaning that habarta (literally: ‘your old woman’); ‘your lady’ in an honorific sense) has among the Hawiyya, where it is said of the mother, and among the Rahanwen, where it is said of the wife.
The Abgal bedouin and the deception of the freed
“Once a young Abgäl was drawing water at the watering place. A crocodile seized him, dragged him to the middle of the river, and ate him. This news became known on the east bank. Another Abgäl ran and stopped at the edge of the river. And he cried out: ‘Oho! Oho!’ To a freed who was passing through the forest of the western bank, it popped into his mind to answer: ‘Oh!’ The Abgal said: ‘Oho! Oho! If the serpent leaves you, come to find me on the eastern bank opposite Marerray! (Marerray is a watering place on the river) ’ I see very well that he gave him the last recommendations.
The promise of theAbgal bedouin
“An Abgâl and his wife were pasturing their sheep. While they were grazing, four sheep were lost in the woodland. The man said: ‘My God, make the sheep return to us. I will offer you a sacrifice of my goat!’ The wife jumped up to say: ‘Oho! Do you want to cut the throat of my goat?’ ‘Hush, ‘he said, ‘you are a stupid one. I was only flattering him (Another tale of this series which jokes about the ingenuity of the Abgal pastoralists.)
The Abgal bedouin who did not know mosquitoes
An Abgal who never went out of the woodland of the left bank one day had the thought: ‘I shall go to the black land to visit for a short time my brother-in-law Hamud.’ ‘Do not do that, uncle ‘Addo!’ ‘Uncle, will you go away from us?’ ‘I am already going!’ He left, and after having walked and crossed the river, he came to his brother-in-law’s house. They greeted each other. ‘Are you well in the black land?’ ‘Well, praise the Lord. But there are too many mosquitoes!’ ‘What mosquitoes?’ ‘Mosquitoes. Do you not know the mosquitoes?’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘my God is God. (Oath formula. )! I have never heard of them.’ ‘It is an animal, an animal that bites people, and when it bites, it makes one sick.’ ‘Praise God!’ he said. And they talked of something else. But they understood at once that the old man was stupid. When night came, the bed was laid out in the small hut that was in the enclosure. ‘Good night, brother-in-law!’ ‘To us all!’ ‘Be careful, there are many mosquitoes here.’ ‘Do not worry, brother-in-law, because I am thinking about the mosquitoes here.’ Everyone went to sleep. The cat of our young man was in the hut. The cat was sleeping there; when it heard the old Abgal snore, it miaowed. The old man woke up! ‘Oho! Here we are, ‘he said. He stretched his hand toward where he heard the miaow and seized the cat’s tail. It scratched him. Its last day had arrived. The old man jumped from the bed, took the dagger, took the lance, and in the darkness he struck so much and hurled so much everywhere that he finally hit the cat. It died there. When it was morning, they gathered for breakfast. ‘Good morning, uncle, ‘Addo!’ ‘Good morning!’ ‘Did you see any mosquitoes last night?’ ‘Do not speak of it!’ he said, ‘a mosquito as big as a ram jumped on me. However, I cut its throat with a dagger. Look at the blood!’
The contest in robbery between two Hawadla’s
Two Hawadlä fought. They said: ‘I am more of a thief than you!’ ‘No! I am more of a thief than you!’ Then one [of them] said: ‘I shall steal the eggs of that dove in the tree, without her perceiving it.’ ‘So be it! I shall watch you!’ the other said. The former jumped into the tree. He seized the dove’s eggs. He let them fall into the other hand. With this one he takes them, into that one he drops them. Then the other man, who is below, steals them from the hand. Did not the thief drop into his left hand the eggs that he took with the right one? When again he raises his right hand, in order to introduce it into the dove’s nest, the thief who is below removes from the hand the eggs taken. He steals them in turn. They came down from the tree. One said: ‘Where are the eggs that were in your hand?’ ‘I do not know!’ he said. Then the other one said: ‘Here they are! Thus, am I not more of a thief than you?’ He said: ‘You are indeed more of a thief than I am. (Here, too, a joke is made about the reputation for ingenious deception that those of Hawadla trbie have made for themselves.)
Marriage traditions amongst the Hawadlä and Gal ge’el
A Hawadlä tradition
“The consuetudinary law of the Hawadlä is this: When one goes away with a woman, she is taken to the house of an old elder. Then she is sent back to the house from where she was taken away. His fee is paid to the elder. Then the elder brings five thalers and takes the girl with him. Then she is taken to the father’s house. Then it is said: ‘The girl that I took away is this one.’ He (the father) says: ‘It is all right, but what does the girl have with her?’ ‘The girl has with her five thalers as donis.’ The fatiha is said. ‘May the marriage be celebrated!’ An ox is brought to the father for the marriage. When the ox is brought to him, he says: ‘Where is my hurmo? (hurmo, ‘respect,’ is the technical name of this gift.)
The hurmo is thirty thalers. The thirty are brought to him. He says: ‘Give the money to her brothers!’ Some of the money is given to her mother, three thalers. ‘Give some of the money to her paternal uncle, the thaler of the paternal uncle! Give the maternal uncle the two [thalers] of the maternal uncle! Then marry her. Bring me my ox!’ The ox is brought. Then four taniche of durra and the ox and a goatskin of butter are brought. A thaler is spent for coffee. Then I also kill an ox in my house. Then, when I have killed the ox, the four taniche of durra brought by me are cooked. When they are ready and I place the vessel of butter there, all, the old and young, eat it. Then my bride is taken into the hut. What is the custom? You say: she must remain eight days and not go out. After she has stayed eight days in the hut, an amulet is cut. Working the land is begun.
“When one wants a girl, they make an agreement. We make an agreement. She says: ‘Go to my father, take him the money, take him the ox! I want you.’ You take her away. If you go to the father, he tells you: ‘She is your sister. If you want her, take her!’ Then you marry her. You take her to the house of the elder.
A Gal ge’el tradition
The consuetudinary law of the Gal ga‘al is this: When a woman is married, the wife remains with her father’s people. He [the bridegroom] goes to his house. He goes to his house; then he comes in secret. He comes out to go to his wife at night, when the sun has set. He is called ‘inniyál.’ The bride is also called ‘inniyâl.’ The people of the bride’s father graze the livestock during the day. When the livestock is grazed, and he [the bridegroom] spies from the woodland, if he finds her in that woodland she is his wife, he couples with her. When she takes care of the livestock, she does not wear the sâs’ on her head, and her hairdo is still with puffed-out hair. This is the consuetudinary law of the Gal ga‘al.”
In the customs of the Hawadlä, too, marriage takes place by symbolic kidnapping; that is, with the bride’s ‘escape’ from her father’s hut, together with the bridegroom, to the hut of an elder of the tribe. This elder, to whom a special gift is due, later acts as an intermediary with the girl’s father, whom he notifies about the nuptial gift already negotiated by the bridegroom for the bride; and settles the gifts for the relatives. The sacrifice and the nuptial banquet follow
According to a variation, which seems significant, the father may also know about it beforehand and give generic consent to the ‘escape,’ which constitutes marriage by kidnapping, except, of course, for the following notification by means of the elder, as we have just seen. This emphasizes the symbolic character that the matrimonial kidnapping has today among the Hawadlä too.
Quite different is the special marriage practiced (1919) among the Gal ga‘el. The bridegroom who has not completely paid the nuptial gifts (it is to be supposed) is recognized as such, but the bride’s people ignore him. He returns to the residence of his own people and is not permitted to visit his wife except at night, in secret, without the wife’s people knowing it openly. And, in order to indicate better this ‘secret marriage,’ the bride keeps the hair of a girl, without covering her hair with the veil, as is the general practice among the Somalis, in order that, in the sight of the others, she will appear unmarried. It is to be remembered that this secrecy, during which the bridegroom is called inniyal (the bride, in the feminine: inniyal ), comes to an end with the payment of the nuptial gift. So we have, in this case too, in the custom, one of the forms of marriage by credit, about which, as I said, the ‘Libro degli Zengi’ /Book of the Zengi/ already speaks for the peoples of the Giuba /Juba.
Sources; Enrico Cerulli “How a Hawiye tribe use to live”
Marriage traditions amongst the Molkal
A Molkal tradition
“If a Molkâl wants a girl, what does he do? If you want her, you and a friend of yours go there. You go to the girl. ‘O girl, come out for us!’ She comes out. Then one talks with her. You agree. ‘Go to my mother.’ ‘My mother, I want your daughter’ tell her! so that she may be informed. And what is said to the father? The matter is hidden from him. ‘Bring the money, I will marry you.’ You take the money, you carry it, you give it to the girl and to her mother. Then you take her away. If you want, you take her far. If she does not want to, you take her to a place in the same country. Then in the morning when dawn breaks, the man to whose house you have taken her comes to you. Then he tells you: ‘Give me the “fol-báhsi” ‘(literally: ‘save forehead’). You say: ‘Call for me the old man So-and-So.’ ‘I will seek him for you.’ He looks for the girl’s father. Then it is said: ‘Carry two thalers for the “donis”!’ Then you give two thalers for the ‘walaya.’ Then he says: ‘Our people want to eat now that the “donis” has been received. An animal to be butchered is needed.’ An agreement is reached. Then it is said: ‘Marry!’ You marry. The bride is taken to your house. This is our custom. Nothing is said to her father [beforehand]. It would be a disgrace. She is stolen from him. If one were to tell him, he would say: ‘Shall I ask my daughter for you? Take her away!’ When the girl is taken away, she receives [from the bridegroom] ten thalers. It is her ‘billo.’ To the mother are given ‘the two of the mother’: two thalers. To the maternal uncle two thalers. To the paternal uncle nothing is due. To the maternal aunt one thaler. To the slaves that she (the bride) possesses’ one 308 thaler; to the freed one thaler. If she does not have slaves, [the thaler] is given to her brother who has some. ‘Our lady is married. Where is the obol?’ they say and ask.”
The Molkal are a Hawiyya tribe of the Guggundabé group and live along the Webi, among the Badi ‘Addä, whose relatives they are, having as their center the village of Mansur, upstream from Mahaddäy. The matrimonial custom of the Molkal is analogous to that of the marriage by symbolic ‘kidnapping’ of the Abgal in the preceding text. Yet the Molkal marriage has some characteristics of its own. First of all, the agreement for the nuptials is made known to the girl’s mother, to the exclusion of the father, who is not to know anything about the marriage (since the ‘kidnapping’ represents precisely the violence done against the girl’s people, people whom the father personifies). The marriage is actuated by the ‘escape’ of the spouses, who go to stay for one night in a hut chosen in the same village or in another village, the bridegroom paying an agreed-upon gift to the owner of the hut. Then the sacrifice and the nuptial banquet and the payment of the gifts to the various relatives of the bride follow. Parallel to the intervention of the mother, instead of the father, in the agreement for the nuptials, so also does the nuptial gift belong to the maternal uncle, to the exclusion of the paternal uncle. Thus, in this custom of the Molkal, we have a link with the people of the bride’s mother.
Source; Enrico Cerulli “How a Hawiye tribe use to live”
Marriage traditions among the Abgal
An Abgal tradition
When an Abgal boy wants to marry, the weddings of the Abgal are of two kinds;
An agreement is reached with the woman. You yourself reach an agreement with her. When you are in accord and she has said ‘I accept!’ you say: ‘Let us go away!’ You take her away. A dress is given to her, only one. Then she is taken to a seh (sheikh). He joins you, he marries you. When he has married you, you take her away. You take her home. She enters a hut. A lamb for the nuptial sacrifice is chosen and killed. What is the nuptial sacrifice? A head of livestock is slaughtered and you pray for the girl that she may bear children. A pot of durra is cooked. It is eaten. Then one is married. To her father nothing is due. ‘For your daughter, who is in agreement with someone, do you ask for money?’ It is a disgrace. ‘You keep the girl!’ She wanted him, this man.
“The nuptials are this way for the one; for the other, on the contrary, one goes to the father. ‘Give me the girl!’ one says. He says: ‘Bring me the “darab”! Bring me the “mäggälyo” and the nuptial sacrifice!’ The ‘darab’ is made up of four lambs and one lamb; [the bridegroom] pays these five. The livestock that is given the mother [of the bride] is this. The ‘mäggälyo’ are some cotton goods that are given the girl’s father. If you speak with the father, this money is necessary. When one goes to her father, he goes to her mother and speaks with her. ‘So-and-So has asked for your daughter and we shall give her to him. Know it!’ he says. If the mother refuses, she is forced; the girl is given. We are ashamed for the girl’s mother, when they are not married yet. When they marry, the bridegroom says: ‘Make the girl happy! Give her food! Buy an ox!’ Then the girl is taken. The people look at one another. Then the nuptial sacrifice is slaughtered. The bridegroom sacrifices it. He slaughters it in his house. The girl’s father does not go to the [nuptial] house. ‘I will not go to the house where my daughter marries. It is a shame for me,’ the father says. [Instead] the paternal uncle and her brother come. The mother does not come. The people related to her by marriage come. Something to eat is given to all. The food [of the banquet] is taken to her father; the paternal uncle of the bride takes it. The food [of the banquet] is taken to the mother; the paternal uncle of the bride takes it. Then there is dancing. Many dances are done. One enters the hut. The father is given a camel, the mother a lamb, two thalers belong to the paternal uncle of the girl, two thalers belong to the maternal uncle, and one thaler belongs to the paternal grandfather. A cow belongs to her brother. His cow is given to him. 304 One thaler belongs to her paternal cousins; one thaler belongs to the maternal aunt. One thaler belongs to the paternal aunt. Four thalers belong to the grandmother. A thaler is given to the oldest sister. Then one enters the house.
No less singular evidence of the ancient institutions is the custom of the work that the bridegroom performs for the bride’s family before the marriage: to wash their clothes, to take part in the rural tasks (the freed’ are agriculturalists). This recalls the ancient norm of the consuetudinary law of the Bantu already living on the Giuba /Juba/ before the arrival of the Galla and the Somalis, a norm that made possible the payment of the nuptial gift for the bride through the work of the bridegroom for her family, as is still documented in the “Libro degli Zengi’ /Book of the Zengi’’.
“When one marries a woman, a new house is built. It is necessary to do some boasting. If one marries tonight, tomorrow the man goes to draw water. He remains absent for three days. He returns with the water drawn. Then he enters the house with the woman. If he sleeps with the woman and there is no water, it is not possible for them to wash themselves. And he says: ‘I do not wish that one not be washed!’ First he draws the water. When they enter the house together, the following day one goes to the field. The woman, if she marries today, tomorrow her head is veiled. Her head is veiled with a black kerchief. She oils her head. This is the consuetudinary law of the Abgal (Harti).
The custom of the Habar Hintiró is different. The boy makes an agreement with the girl. He says: ‘I will take you!’ She says: ‘Bring fifty rupees!’ He says: ‘Reduce it somewhat for me!’ She answers: ‘Bring thirty thalers (Thirty thalers are equal to fifty rupees)
If she is a beautiful girl, she takes the thirty thalers. Then she is taken away. She is married, she is brought home. The nuptial sacrifice is slaughtered. One enters the hut. This is their wedding. If one goes to the girl’s father, he says: ‘Dearest, this man has asked for you, I bless you and I give you to him!’ She answers: ‘I approve. My sister So-and-So got so much; I also want as much. If he gives me that, I am for him too! Otherwise he is to go away!’ So she speaks. To the man it is said: ‘If you are able to give it to her, give it!’ Then he marries her. No money is given to the girl’s father. It cannot be foreseen whether the girl will accept or refuse. She is taken by the money. This money which is given the girl is called ‘gogol-ku-tâb’ (literally: ‘wrapped in the bed’). When the girl is taken away, a garment is unfolded. The money is put there. It is tied with fringes. The garment is put on the bed that is in the girl’s house and on which she used to sleep. It is wrapped in the bed. One goes to one’s own bride. The following day the mother comes to the bed. She calls: ‘O So-and-So! O So-and-So!’ She feigns that she is at home. ‘Oh! Last night somebody took the girl away. Oh! Here are her tracks! Oh! Up! I will look at her bed!’ When she looks, there is her garment. The money is tied in the garment. The mother takes the money and puts it in a place. She wears the garment. She puts the money in place. It is carried to the girl. When it is taken to her, she [the mother] says: ‘Here is your money. Buy household goods!’ She buys her household goods. The mother does not take a besa (A besa was a hundredth of a rupee)
“For the Abgâl women it is not by force [that they are married]. You take away the one with whom you are in accord. For the freed it is different. When a 305 freed wants to marry a woman, first one goes to the family of the girl with whom he is in love. [The bridegroom] gives cotton goods. He builds a hut. He makes a lean-to. He washes the garment of her mother. He washes the garment of the girl. He washes the garment of the girl’s father. He washes the garment of the boy born together with the bride. He works the field. Then two loads of durra are given. The ‘yardo’ is paid. When this yardo is paid, a hut with a lean-to is built. The hut is erected. Then his mother enters this house. She cleans it. She sets up the bed there. All the household goods are put there. Then the girl is kidnapped. She is kidnapped with violence. One enters the house. An ox is slaughtered. The girl’s mother takes seven gowns. She takes four stools and a bed to sleep on. She takes a pail and a plate on which food is eaten. She carries all these things there, then she goes away. She goes to her house. Today a woman gets married. Her hands are tied. A whip is taken. During the night she is beaten. The bridegroom beats her. When the bridegroom and the bride enter the house together, they stay there seven days. During these seven nights he does not abandon the whip. This is the custom of the freed.”
This text also comes from the Abgal ‘Abdallah Agon-yär (collected in September, 1919). The custom thus presented consequently recognizes two different nuptial contracts: the one stipulated with the bride, and the one, more solemn, stipulated with the father (or the guardian) of the bride. The two kinds of marriage are equal in juridical validity, the difference being only ceremonial, so to speak. Yet the nuptial contract stipulated directly with the woman does not involve gifts to the father, nor to others of the bride’s people, such as, on the contrary, the one stipulated with the father (or guardian) requires. Both types of nuptial contract are celebrated with the sacrifice of a head of livestock, a sacrifice that is meant to be propitiatory for the fecundity of the marriage. If we consider such a situation historically, we may perhaps believe that the marriage stipulated with the father or guardian of the bride (and with the gifts to her people) is an actual continuation of the ancient marriage formerly stipulated through an intergentilitial agreement. (Cf. above, p. 44/see 21: Cerulli in this file)
whereas the marriage stipulated with the bride is an evolution of the one by kindnapping: kidnapping that, as we see among other Somali tribes, has become more or less symbolic. In this sense only the violence — since accepted in the stylized form of the custom — interrupts the preponderance of the gentilitial bond and makes valid the agreement between the individuals instead of the agreement between the ethnic groups. The nuptial gifts in the marriage that we shall call intergentilitial are many and they include: the prenuptial ones to the father (maggalyo) and to the mother (darab) of the bride; the postnuptial ones, at the ‘entering 306 into the hut,’ constituting the new family per separatam oeconomiam: to the father and to the mother of the bride, to the paternal uncle and to the maternal uncle and to the paternal relatives.
The taboo, also imposed on the bridegroom among the Abgal, of not meeting the bride’s mother until the marriage has been consummated is still important; as is the other taboo, which seems to me not to be attested to elsewhere, because of which the bride’s father cannot attend the nuptial banquet (and the sacrifice which precedes it) and receives his share of the banquet from the paternal uncle of the bride. To this double custom of the Harti Abgal there is contrasted in our text the custom of the Hintiro Abgal. Among the Hintiro, in case of marriage contracted directly with the bride, the agreed-upon nuptial gift is paid only indirectly (and not given to the bride, as it is according to the custom of the Harti). Here, too, we see in the Hintiro custom a symbolic residue of the abduction, since the sum agreed upon is placed on the bride’s bed in her house, when the bridegroom has taken her away; and the mother is ceremonially surprised by the absence of the lass, until she finds the nuptial gift that she will give her later.
The marriage of the so-called ‘freed’ (Habaso), that is, of the Negro groups who live along the Webi on the borders of the territory of the Abgal has instead clearly preserved the character of the kidnapping both in the abduction of the bride and in the beatings during the nuptial retreat. In both these episodes the violence actually may have become symbolic, but the preservation in the customs of this fiction is historically typical by itself.
Source; Enrico Cerulli “How a Hawiye tribe use to live”
A concise History of Mogadishu
Mogadishu is an ancient city that was a central trading centre in the Indian Ocean trade. Its foundation is unclear, but is mostly associated with traders from the Indian Ocean region, like Arabs, Persians etc who settled in the Banadir coast region. The word Banaadir itself comes from the Persian word Bandar which means port, and refers to the port-cities of the Banadir region of Somalia.
Mogadishu was a wealthy city that was a commercial hub in the Indian Ocean trade. The famous Arabian traveller Ibn Battuta visited this city in the 13th century and wrote about it:
We sailed on from there for fifteen nights and came to Maqdashaw, which is a town of enormous size. Its inhabitants are merchants possessed of vast resources; they own large numbers of camels, of which they slaughter hundreds every day [for food], and also have quantities of sheep. In this place are manufactured the woven fabrics called after it, which are unequalled and exported from it to Egypt and elsewhere.<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[1]<!–[endif]–>
Mogadishu remained throughout the centuries an important trading centre, but lost its prominent role to other emerging trading centre’s in the Swahili coast. When the Portuguese entered the Indian Ocean trade in the 15th and 16th century, Mogadishu was not as wealthy as in the times of Ibn Battuta, but nonetheless remained an important commercial city. The city was wealthy from the overseas trade it drove based on its complementary relationship with the Ajuraan imamate of the interior<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[2]<!–[endif]–>. In the 16th and early 17th century, the city was ruled by the Muzzaffar dynasty which claimed its origin from Yemen, while the interior was ruled by the Ajuraan group. The Ajuraan ruled much of the Somali hinterland and succeeded in establishing their hegemony over the inter- riverine region.
‘Once established in the southern plains, however, the Ajuraan are said to have ruled the country from Qallaafo, on the upper Shabeelle river, to the shores of the Indian Ocean; and from Mareeg on the central Somali coast to the Jubba river in the south. (Cassanelli, pp90)<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[3]<!–[endif]–>
The emergence of the Imamate of Yaaquub in Mogadishu is related to the tyrannical rule of the Ajuraan in the interior, and the attraction of the growing Mogadishu wealth as a consequence of its thriving trade controlled by the Muzzaffar dynasty which was allied to the Ajuraan in the interior.
The Yaaquub is a lineage of the Abgal clan who itself is part of the wider Darandoole Mudulood group. The Darandoole Mudulood is a pastoral group that lived in Central Somalia, and throughout the centuries migrated Southwards.<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[4]<!–[endif]–> As a consequence of this southwards migration, the Darandoole Mudulood encroached slowly but steadily on Mogadishu city and came in conflict with the Muzzaffar dynasty. This dynasty in Mogadishu was itself incapable to withstand this migration and encroachment and opted for negotiation with the Imam of the Darandole.
Cerulli has recorded traditional narrative of how the Darandole conquered Mogadishu against the Muzaffar dynasty:
“In ancient times the Sirasi lived in Mogadiscio. The people called Halawani succeeded the Sirasi. The Mudaffar succeeded the Halawani. The Mudaffar came from the country of Yemen in Arabia. He had guns. He built the palace that is found under the Governor’s house. He was a friend of the Aguran. At that time the Mudaffar governed the coast; and the Aguran ruled in the woodland. The Hirabe were not nearby them; they lived in the northern places. At that time the people of the woodland could not spend the night in the city of Mogadiscio. At sunset a ban was put on the city: ‘Hawiyya, it is growing dark! Hawiyya, it is growing dark!’ Then they went away toward the woodland.
“Later the Mudaffar had an interpreter who was called ‘Ismankäy Haggi ‘Ali. This ‘Ismankäy had the idea of letting the Darandollä enter the city. A message was sent to the imam Mahmud ‘Umar, who lived at Golol. The imam, guiding his Page: 71 warriors, came south and approached Mogadiscio. Then what did ‘Ismankäy do? He spoke with the Mudaffar: ‘By now the Darandollä are near Mogadiscio, let me be accompanied by some soldiers, and I shall go to them.’ ‘How do you want to do it?’ ‘I shall do it this way. I shall come to an agreement with the leaders and make them return to the places in the north.’ ‘So be it!’ said the Mudaffar. Then ‘Ismänkäy took some soldiers with him, but without weapons: ‘Leave your weapons! We go out to conclude an agreement, not really for war.’ They put down the weaons. They went into the woodland. When they had gone into the woodland, the Darandollä came out and took all the soldiers prisoner. Then they continued the raid and entered Mogadiscio. The Mudaffar was caputred and they wanted to kill him. But he, looking at the people who had come close to him, saw among them ‘Ismankäy Haggi Ali. ‘Stop!’ he said then. ‘Before you kill me, I want to speak. O ‘Ismankäy, you are good for nothing, you are capable of nothing, you will not pass seven!’ he said. Thus was 248 ‘Ismankäy cursed. When the Mudaffar was killed, when seven days passed after his death, ‘Ismankäy died too. It happened exactly as he had been cursed.<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[5]<!–[endif]–>
The Darandoolle have conquered Mogadishu city and killed the Muzzaffar governor sometime between 1590 and 1625. The approximate dates appear to be corroborated by a Portuguese document dated 1624<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[6]<!–[endif]–>.
After the Darandoolle Mudulood took control of the Mogadishu city in 1624, they quarrelled with the Ajuraan on the interior.
‘After entering Muqdisho, the Darandoolle quarrelled with the Ajuraan. They quarrelled over watering rights. The Ajuraan had decreed: ‘At the wells in our territory, the people known as Darandoolle and the other Hiraab cannot water their herds by day, but only at night’’…Then all the Darandoolle gathered in one place. The leaders decided to make war on the Ajuraan. They found the imam of the Ajuraan seated on a rock near a well called Ceel Cawl. They killed him with a sword. As they struck him with the sword, they split his body together with the rock on which he was seated. He died immediately and the Ajuraan migrated out of the country.’<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[7]<!–[endif]–>
The Darandoolle became as such the first group to rebel against the tyranny of Ajuraan in the interior, and ever since this Ajuraan defeat other groups would follow in the rebellion which would eventually bring down Ajuraan rule of the inter-riverine region.
After the defeat of the Ajuraan in the interior the Darandoolle Mudulood established themselves around Mogadishu and Shabelle river valley, in which Wacdaan inhabited the environs of Afgoye and Mogadishu, Hilibi in Lower Shabelle, Moobleen went to the region now known as Middle Shabelle, while the Abgaal established themselves in and around Mogadishu city.
By about 1700 the entire political structure of Mogadishu city was altered with the ascendancy of a new line of Abgaal Yaaquub imams who established themselves in Shangaani quarter (the northern moiety of Mogadishu city). The Yaaquub imam’s powerbase remained among the people of the interior, while members of the Imam’s Yaaquub lineage intermarried with the BaFadel and Abdi Semen, two famed merchants families of Yemeni origins.<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[8]<!–[endif]–>
The Yaaquub Imam collected the port tariffs of the city, and emerged as the authority of Mogadishu city, despite its division into two moieties.<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[9]<!–[endif]–> The Yaaquub imamate would survive until the closing of the 19th century and was a force to reckon with when Zanzibari influence slowly expanded throughout the Banadir region.
The picture above is the marketplace in Mogadishu in 1882.
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<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[1]<!–[endif]–>http://web.archive.org/web/20000914042613/http://www.homestead.com/XAMAR/BATUTA.html
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[2]<!–[endif]–> Lee V. Cassanelli, The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900, (Philadelphia, 1982), capture 3.
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[3]<!–[endif]–> Lee V. Cassanelli, The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900, (Philadelphia, 1982), capture 3, pp90
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[4]<!–[endif]–> How a Hawiye tribe used to live capter 4, published in: Somalia, scritti vari editi ed inediti, Vol. 2, edited by Enrico Cerulli, Roma, 1959.
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[6]<!–[endif]–> Lee V. Cassanelli, The Shaping of Somali Society: Reconstructing the History of a Pastoral People, 1600-1900, (Philadelphia, 1982), capture 3.
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[7]<!–[endif]–> Lee V. Cassanelli, who quotes from: How a Hawiye tribe used to live capter 4, published in: Somalia, scritti vari editi ed inediti, Vol. 2, edited by Enrico Cerulli, Roma, 1959.
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[8]<!–[endif]–> Lee V. Cassanelli, Towns and Trading centres in Somalia: A Nomadic perspective, Philadelphia, 1980, pp8-9.
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[9]<!–[endif]–> Mogadishu in the 19th century.
<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[10]<!–[endif]–> Edward A. Alpers, Muqdisho in the Ninetheenth Century: A Regional Perspective, The Journal of African History, Vol. 24, No. 4 (1983), pp. 441-459, Cambridge University Press.
Ciise Mudulood: Tradition and possible explanation for lack of cohesion and leadership.
Gabay
Ma duhr dabadiisa
Ma ceel daboole’ aa
Ma dibi daba go’on baa
Ma talo Daba yar baa
Udeejeenoow tusbax afgiisa la gooyey
Ayaan idin ka dhigay
Background
A long time ago, the elders of Ciise Mudulood had an important shir in the region of Hiiraan-Galgaduud. This shir was about the election of the Ugaas of the clan. It was around the time of duhr, at a place with a well. During the shir there developed an intense discussion between Gacanweyne subclan and Ifya Yusuf subclan of Udeejeen. Faqi Ebaker (Abaker?) who was from Gacanweyne subclan made a claim to the Ugaas title, but he received stiff opposition from the Ifya Yusuf subclan. After intense discussion with no compromise between the main opposing subclans, the issue was put forward to the youngest section of the clan. This was according to the custom of Udeejeen, in which the younger son could make the decision for the clan after heavy disagreement between the elder sons. This youngest son was Dabayar Maxamed Gaab (which eventually grew into Dabayar subsection of Maxamed Gaab subclan). The decision made by Dabayar was that Faqi Ebaker should not become the Ugaas of the clan. As expected, Faqi Ebaker got angry and recited the above mentioned gabay.
In the gabey, Faqi Ebaker first asks about the surrounding of the shir:
Ma duhr dabadiisa?
Is it the nearing of Duhr, (meaning the time of the shir, which was around the end of Duhr. )
Ma ceel daboole’ aa?
Is it a well (that can be covered, which is the characteristic of this particular well in this gabay where the shir was held)
Ma dibi daba go’on baa?
Is it a slaughtered ox? (an ox that was slaughtered for the guests of the shir)
Ma talo Dabayar baa?
Is it the decision of Dabayar? (the decision made by the youngest son Dabayar)
Udeejeenoow tusbax afgiisa la gooyey
Ayaan idin ka dhigay
Udejeenoow, I make you like the tusbax which its beginning is cut open.
This curse of Faqi Ebaker basically ment that he cursed Udeejeen to lose their cohesiveness and go different directions like a ‘tusbax’ which is broken and were all the pieces go different directions.
After reciting the gabay, Faqi Ebakar broke his Tusbax with anger, to illustrate the terrible consequences of his curse, and then Macalin Maxumed (the grandfather of Reer Aw Macalin subclan of Udeejeen) stood up and grapped the remaining parts of the tusbax from the hand of Faqi Ebakar and then said: ‘Leave these remaining parts to me’
According to this tradition, Udeejeen had a major shir in which they wanted to elect the traditional leadership of the clan. Since the elders at that shir could not agree who should become the Ugaas, the shir ended in distaster in which Faqi Ebakar (the man who made claim to the title) cursed Udeejeen as a whole and ever since that curse Udejeen has lost cohesion and spread to all directions according to the elders and tradition of the clan. Also, this explains why Udeejeen never had any organized form of traditional leadership to this day.
This oral tradition is most of the time used as explanation for the fact that Udeejeen (Ciise Mudulood) has remained insignificant as a clan, while younger clans like Abgaal, Xawaadle have become significant. The curse itself is brought forward as one of the explanations for the current state of the clan.But if we move beyond that kind of superstition and look at the fact that the clan itself could not agree on an organized traditional leadership in the form of Ugaas, while other Somali clans had this kind of organized traditional leadership, we can conclude that the clan lost its cohesiveness and divided into many sub units which all went their own different directions as a consequence of lack of leadership that could keep the group together and lead the group as a whole. Only a few stayed behind in the original land of the clan, namely Hiiraan-Galgaduud, while most went westwards, well into Somali Galbeed and even ventured into Oromo land. There is another group (the Dabayar group) that went eastwards well into the Banadir and can be found now in Qalimoow around Balcad.
Source: Oral recollections of Mudulood elder.
The sick Mudulood father and the proposals of Darandole and Ciise Mudulood
When the ancestral father Mudulood became sick and his two sons Ciise Mudulood and Darandoole Mudulood had to decide what to do with him, they differed in their views.
According to Ciise Mudulood, their father should go with them to wherever they went. They proposed for the father to be put on a camel (rati) and as such his offspring would take care for him while they wandered around as pastoralists.
According to Darandoole Mudulood, their father should get a restplace. They proposed to build for him a nice house so he could spend his last days in one place.
The sick Mudulood father agreed with Darandoole Mudulood and said the following:
To Ciise Mudulood:
‘Rati korkiisa aan idin ku ogahay’ = Upon a male camel is were you will end up
To Darandoole Mudulood:
‘Deegaan baan idin ku ogahay’ = In a land (living place) is where you will end up
The two statements Mudulood made about his two sons Ciise Mudulood and Darandoole Mudulood were characteristic of their different outlook on life.
Ciise Mudulood was of a more pastoral mind and as such proposed to move their sick father along with them and not settle into one place, while Darandoole Mudulood proposed a much sound argument which was to settle into one place and build a rest house for the sick father.
As such, Darandoole Mudulood today inhabit a large land that stretches from Mudug to L.Shabelle which their offspring have settled throughout the centuries, while Ciise Mudulood have wandered westwards as far as into Oromo land in Abbysinia. Today, there is a remaining part of Ciise Mudulood in Hiiraan and the boundary of Somalia-Ethiopia (Feerfeer borderregion). A very small deegaan compared to their sibling Darandoole Mudulood.
Source: Oral recollections by elder Mudulood men.
Proverbs and Wisdom of the Hawiye
Silence and speech
“Three are the sicknesses, three the healths, if three are found it is better. The woodland is a sickness, the path is health, if a white way is found it is better. The darkness is a sickness, the lunar light is health, if a bright day is found it is better. Silence is a sickness, talking is health, if what is talked about is obtained it is better”
Ingratitude
“Three things are life, and three things are death. If these three things befall you, it is a misfortune. The sperm is life, if sterility befalls you it is a misfortune. Rain is life, if drought befalls you it is a misfortune. The return is life, if ingratitude befalls you it is a misfortune.”
The complaisant girl
Three things are ancestors; three lived with the ancestors; and three satisfy the desires. The camel is ancestor; the livestock with the spotted coat lived with the ancestors; the goat with the speckled coat satisfies the desires.*
*The camel is the traditional livestock, and the possession of bovines is ancient, but the goat, which is slaughtered daily in order to eat the meat, even if scorned because of its little value and because of its ugly coat, is the one that has more practical utility.
The field is ancestor; the boundaries lived with the ancestors; the ear of grain satisfies the desires*
* The field is the origin of the agricultural production, and its boundaries were established by the forefathers, but all that gives utility in the ear of durra from which food is obtained
The girl is ancestor; the unmarried girl lived with the ancestors; the coquette satisfies the desires”*
* More than the virgin, faithful to the rigorous principles of morality, and the unmarried girl, the complaisant girl, with whom one can enjoy oneself without excessive anxiety, is to be esteemed.
Respect toward the elders.
“With three you do not race, with three you do not quarrel. With a war horse, with one who has drunk sheep butter”*
*It is a popular idea that the butter made with sheep milk is particularly nutritious.
“with the wind: one does not race. With the one who fathered you, with one who is greater than you, and with the leaders”*
* gob” among the Hawíyya is both the totality of the leaders of the various peoples of the tribe and the dynasty of the leader of the tribe itself. one does not quarrel.”
Where there is nothing to hope for
“With three things people emigrate, toward three things people emigrate, behind three things people pass. With the small donkeys, with the big camels, with the wooden boats people emigrate. Toward where the rain has made the land fertile, toward where there are many of your people, and toward where there are many girls people emigrate. Behind three things people pass; the nobles,he shy girl, the brave”*
* it is better not to attack from the front: the nobles (from whom the evil eye is feared); the girl who knows how to defend herself; and the pugnacious warrior.
Avarice and generosity.
“Two things are better for you if they are sitting, two are better if they are alive, two are better if they are dead. A milk cow and a man who knows generosity are better for you alive. The nobles and the fire are better sitting”*
* Because just as the fire, lifting its flames, causes damage, so the nobles, intervening in the fights, inevitably: either cause harm directly or end by obtaining money as peacemakers.
Love and gossip.
“Three are the things that remain, three the things that come, three the ones that separate them. The market remains, the caravan comes, the measure and the price separate them. The shore remains, the boat comes, the wind and the season of the southwest separate them. The girl remains, the young man comes, words and gossip separate them.”
The hospitality of the munificent.
“Three things are in your favor, three in your house, three in your ‘muskul’ ( Muskul is a room of the Somali hut reserved for intimate use (baths, ablutions, toilet, etc.). Nice words that are obtained, shameful thing hidden, a good skin on which to sleep: these three things are in your house. ‘I do not have any,’ ‘I do not take any,’ ‘if I have any, I will not give it to you’: these three things are in your ‘muskul.’ Your money that you bestow on me munificently, the ‘no!’ that you do not say to me, the ‘welcome!’ that you add for me: these three things are in your favor.”*
* The proverb means that nice words, a good bed, and discretion in confidences are natural for a guest, whereas avarice and refusals have to be hidden as shameful things, munificence toward the guests is always to be celebrated.
Nobles and commoners.
“Five things have nobles, and they have commoners, and they have pariahs. The camels have nobles and they have commoners and they have pariahs. The sheep have nobles and they have commoners and they have pariahs. The bovines have nobles and they have commoners and they have pariahs. Men have nobles and they have commoners and they have pariahs. Among the camels the nobles are called big-shoulders, the commoners are the camels with a dark coat, the pariahs are those with the neck curved backwards ( The Somalis prefer camels that are light and have powerful shoulders for the load.) Among the sheep the nobles are those without horns, the commoners are those with curved horns, the pariahs are those with straight horns. ( Literally, “horns like the tooth of a comb /Ital. ago crinale/ .”)
Among the bovines the nobles are red, the commoners the speckled ones, the pariahs are the many-colored ones. Among men the nobles are the ones who know what is right, the commoners the ones who ask what is right, the pariahs the ones who stay at home ( That is, the ones who do not participate actively in the life of the tribe, either as governing or as governed. Different from the women, among whom, as the proverb itself says, the ones who remain at home are preferred.)
Among the women the nobles are the ones who remain at home, the commoners the ones who hold out their arms. ( That is, the ones who are not bashful.) the pariahs the short and thickset.”
The dangers of eloquence.
“In three things deceit is never lacking: in the wolf with the tracks of a hyena, in the woman who prays, in the eloquent man. The wolf with the tracks of a hyena comes to you one night: at dawn, when the sun rises, you see its tracks. You say: Last night a hyena came to us. The following night 224 it (the wolf) carries your child away ( The “[unknown]durway,” properly speaking, is the “Lycaon pictus,” while the “wer” is the striped hyena. The former, when hungry, attacks man.) The woman who prays is this way: she prays, fasts. Then you will see her steal a man. The eloquent man is this way: he argues with you, and he knows how to bring forward to you deceptively the question that he has. In these three things deceit is never lacking.”
Brothers and friends.
“Three things are better for you than three things, but it is not said. Your wife is better for you than your mother, but it is not said. Your slave is better for you than your son, but it is not said. Your friend is better for you than your brother, but it is not said.”
A teacher without pupils.
Three things have regret. A teacher who does not leave pupils, an old man without young men ( “His children” is meant.) he sperm wasted in women of others: these three things cause regret.”
Love does not call for discussion by the tribe.
“Three things are united and are put together and are spoken of with qaf’ ( . More than a real proverb, it is a matter of a joke on the alliteration with qaf’.”) The camel with the long neck and its four loads are united and are put together and are spoken of with qâf. The book of the Koran and its 225 binding are united and are together and are spoken of with qâf. If a girl is beautiful and follows your heart, even if she sews skin sacks and sandals ( Occupations that reveal a low-caste origin.) there is no talk of tribe ( There is no discussion of genealogies, as, on the contrary, needs to be done for marriage.) she is seized and it is spoken of with qâf .”
The three crises of life.
“The man, son of nobles, assails you three times. When he is born, he assails you. When he marries, he assails you. When he dies, he assails you” ( The traditional banquets for the birth of a male child and for a marriage, as for funerals, are quite expensive. ).
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How a Hawiye tribe used to live By Enrico Cerulli
Explorations in History and Society 