aarikhdiisa faneed Abwaan Cabdulle Raage Taraawiil

Todobaadka iyo shaqsiyada Jimcaha Shaaciye oo aan ku soo qaadaneyno Abwaan Soomaaliyeed oo dadka si weyn u yaqaanaan oo aan u maleyneynin in cid loo sheegayo aysan jirin, balse Jiilka cusub ee soo koraya mudan in la xasuusiyo Taarikhdiisa faneed Abwaan Cabdulle Raage Taraawiil oo bishii Maarso sanadkii 2000 geeriyooday.

Alle ha u naxariistee Abwaan Cabdulle Raage Warsame Taraawiil, waxa uu ku dhashay duleedka Degmada Ceeldheer ee gobolka Galgaduud sanadku markuu ahaa 1934-kii. Cabdulle Raage Warsame aabihiis Raage waxa uu ahaa afmaal deegaankii uu ku dhaqnaa nabadoon u ah, tirinta ereyo suugaaneedkana aad ayaa loogu texgelin jiray.

Intii uu yaraa Cabdulle Raage Warsame waxa uu isa saar saari jiray tixo suugaan ah, laakiin markii uu soo hano qaadey ayuu si weyn isugu taxaluujiyay suugaan tirinstiisa,waxaana lagu tiriyaa dadka fara ku tiriska ah ee iyadoo da’doodu ka hooseyso 15-jirka sida yaabka leh uga soo baxay goobaha la isugu yimaado.

Sanadkii 1943-kii ayuu Abwaan C/lle Raage si muuqata ugu soo biiray fanka, sidoo kale 1956-kii ayuu guursaday xaaskii ugu horeeyay markii ay mudo is qabeen kaddibna waxaa lagu xiray Degmada Ceelbuur ee isla Gobolka Galgaduud dabadeedna waxaa loo soo wareejiyay magaalada Muqdisho si halkaasi Maxkamad loogu saaro, hase yeeshee waa la sii daayay kadib markii lagu waayay dembigii lagu soo eedeeyay.

Allaha u naxariistee Abwaan Cabdulle Raage Taraawiil waxa uu ku biiray Xisbigii Libaraale ee uu Guddoomiyaha u ahaa Allaha u naxariistee Xaaji Maxamuud Maxamed Boraako, isagoo gubaabin jiray taageerayaasha Xisbiga, sidoo kale wuxuu Abwaanku ku biiray Idaacadda Raadiyo Muqdisho, waxaana lala yaabay kaalintii uu ka qaatay munaasabadihii loo sameeyay Xorriyaddii iyo Calan-saarkii Soomaalida 1960-kii taas ayaana u sahashay inuu ka mid noqdo shaqaalaha ugu firfircoon ee Radio Muqdisho, inkastoo ay jireen caqabado yaryar oo ka hor yimid

Abwaan C/lle Raage wuxuu ahaa Mu’alif Riwaayadaha qora, Gabyaa caan ah, jilaa si aad ah loo jecleystay, waxaana ka mid ahaa Riwaayadihii lagu xasuusto (Shabeel Naagood) oo uu isagu Aktar ka ahaa uuna lahaa Abwaan Xasan Sh.Muumin, (Yaxaas Dhegaduub) oo uu lahaa Sangub, (Dhagax iyo dab) oo uu lahaa Cali Sugulle iyo Riwaayado kale oo aad u fara badan.

Marxuum Abwaan C/lle waxaa sanadkii 1968-kii loo magacaabay “Radio Artiste” oo kulminayay Madaxa Raadiyaha Walaalaha Hargeysa iyo Radio Muqdisho, sanadihii 1964-kii waxa uu kaalin mug leh ka qaatay dagaalkii lagula jiray dalweynihii Xabashida isagoo ku muteystay Bilado dhowr ah.

Sanadkii 1974-kii waxaa loo bedelay Radio Hargeysa, isagoo loo magacaabay Guddoomiyaha Fanka W/Galbeed, wuxuuna bedelkaasi ka tiriyay ilaa Toddobo Gabay, sanad kaddibna wuxuu ku soo laabtay magaalada Muqdisho, waxaana loo magacaabay Guddoomiyaha shaqaalaha Wasaaradda Warfaafinta, kaddibna wuu iska casilay markii ay is qabsadeen isaga iyo Abwaan Shareeco.

Allaha u naxariistee Abwaan C/lle waxay Soomaalidu ku xusuusataa Gabayadiisii u badnaa Gobanimadoonka iyo la dagaalanka Gumeysiga madow gaar ahaan dagaalkii dhex maray Soomaalida iyo Itoobiya sanadihii 1977 ilaa 1978-kii. wuxuu kaloo ka qeyb galay Bandhig faneedyo caalami ah, sida kii lagu qabtay magaalada Lagos ee dalka Nayjeriya 1978-kii kaasoo ay ka soo qeyb galeen 37-Dowladood oo Afrikaan ah, wuxuuna ka galay kaalinta Koowaad taasoo uu ku muteystay abaalmarin caalami ah iyo Billad, Gabaygii uu halkaas uga qeyb galayna waxaa lagu magacaabaa Dhambaal.

Abwaanka waxaa lagu xusuustaa Gabayadii Wadaniga ahaa, wuxuuna gabaygan uu kaga hadlayaa qiimaha farta Soomaaliga oo xiligii la soo saaray qorista far Soomaaliga uu tiriyay, lagana sii deyn jiray Radio Muqdisho.

Labaatan iyo labo aamustiyo, shaqal irmaaneeya

Amran iyo tilmaamiyo gudbe, aade iyo jooge

isku dare xiriiriye falkaab, erayadeennii ah

Ebyan iyo haddaan magac u yaal, ku arkay joornaalka

Mar haddii afkeygii la qoray, Aabe iyo Hooyo

Mar hadaan amaahsigii ka baxay, lagu ogoontoobay

Abaal waxaa leh nimankii fartaa, soo abaabulaye

Amiirnimo sin iyo garab jirteey, nagu abuureene

Afafka qalaad iyo maxaa, eregta ii dhiibay

Anaa macallimoo raba dad loo furo iskuullaade.

Waxaa kaloo xusuus mudan Gabagii caan baxay ee Duqa haloo sheego ee uu ka tiriyay Caddaalad daradii Dowladdii Kacaanka ee Maxamed Siyaad hoggaamin jiray Allaha u naxariistee.

Doontaa Waqooyi iyo degmada Laascaano

Ganacsigu waa nin iyo Dooqiise

Dulmi Xamar ku siman baa jiree, duqa haloo sheego

Dan-wadaagaha ineynaan ku jirin, lagu dul noolaaday

Roobna gaar noogu di’in duqa haloo sheego

Dad kale in loo raro qamadi, lagu daryeelaayo

Iyadoo warqado lagu dabaqay daaya ku hor taalo

aniguna midkaan suuqa duwan degel ku soo iibshay

Gaariga inay kala degaan, duqa haloo sheego

Dugsiyada xaggoodiina ardaydii deyro laga keenaye

Imtixaankii diblomad daacad laga dhowrye

Deymo iyo eeg baa xarfihii laga dersaayaa’e

Dee iyo waryaa nimaan laheyn diintase aan caayin

Dad uma yaqaaniine, duqa haloo sheego

Horaantii 1980-kii waxa uu si aad ah u duray hab dhaqankii Kacaanka, isagoo si toos ah uga hor yimid qorshihiisii guracnaa taas ayaana sababtay in xabsiga la dhigo, dabadeedna lagu sameeyo jirdil gaarsiiyay inuu xabsiga ku dhameysto Isbitaal Digfeer.

Abwaan C/lle Raage Allaha u naxariistee Gabayada sida weyn loogu xusuusto waxaa ka mi ah: Duqa haloo sheego, Arrin walaacday, Marmarsiimo hadal, Saaqid, Qof u yaal iyo kuwo kale oo tiro badan, waxa uu si aad ah uga hor yimid sidii bahalnimada lahayd ee ay u dhaqmeen Jabhadihii Hubka qaatay, kuwaasoo ka daray Xukuumadii kali taliska ahayd ee uu horayba uga qeyliyay Abwaanku.

Taariikhdu waa dhaxal ma dhammaato weligeed, qof kastaana wuu dhiman, Abwaanku waxa uu geeriyooday bishii Maarso sanadkii 2000, wuxuuna ifka uga tegay Laba Caruur ah iyo xaas.

Qaar ka mid ah Gabayadiisa xusuusta Mudan, Gabaygan oo uu tiriyay Abwaanka ayaa wuxuu jawaab u ahaa Gabay kale oo uu tiriyay Khaliif Sheekh Muxumad.

Marmarsiinyo hadalkaagi, iyo meel ka dhicidaadi
Gabayadi macluusha u badnaa, maqallay Jaalloowe
Anigoon middaa iyo mid hore, kala micnayneynin
Haddaad meherad leeday waqtigu, waa ku soo maraye
Mindida daabka adigaa qabsaday, maalintii hore’e
Gobannimo mudnaanteed haddii, lagu mihiibsiiyey
Halkaan maamul loo siman yahay, ee mida ka dhawraynay
Maandeeqdi noo curatay baad, maashay keligaaye
Annagoo minja-caddaadnay, ee nalagu maadeysto
Meleg baas adinkoo nagu hayee, meydku tira dhaafay
Milliterigu waatuu saq-dhexe, kaa maroorsadaye
Macbuudkii na kiin dhaafiyaan, mahadinaynaaye
Mus ka soo dhac iyo caydu, waa meheraddiinniiye
Idinkoo marsaday xeeryaha, een marax idiin oollin
Haddana inaad maxlalo doontahaan, maanka ka arkaaye
Maansada masala-gaabka, iyo mala carruureedka
Malxiiskaan mashxaradda u tumeen, marin abaalkeedi
Adigoo muruxsan oo qaawan, aa meel lagaa helaye
Maraay aa lagaa soo dejiyey, maalin duhurkiiye
Markhaatina waxaa lagu hayaa, maqalya taariikh
Adigoo maqaar bahal eh, iyo aadmi madixiisa
Markaan ku arkayaan kaa samray, oo kaa mural jabay
Murdisadi aad iga taabatay, aan mayray toban jeer
Marjafkii ninkii kaa jaree, marada kuu iibshey
Markaad dheregto inad caydo, waa garac maqaankii
Mushkiluu dhaxlaa ruux kastee, wacal masruufaa
Ninka magaca Soomaliyeed, midabbaduu yeelay
Waa nimaan minhaaj iyo ku dhalan, meher xalaaleed
Oo aan mufti iyo hooyadii, macallin loo geyn.

Allaha u naxariistee Abwaan Cabdulle Raage waxaa uu jeclaa Nabadda, waxaana uu ka qeyb qaatay dadaalo badan oo dalka nabad loogu raadinayay xiliyadii burburka ee uu uu noolaa isagoo ka qeybgalay shirirkii dib u heshiisiinta ee Ethiopia iyo kuwo kale, waxaa xusuus mudan in Abwaanka wiil uu dhalay oo laga soo sheegtay in uu gacantiisa uu tolkiisa ugu dhiibay amrayna in la dilo.

Gabagabadii, Abwaan Hadraawi oo aqoon durugsan u lahaa Cabdulle Raage ayaa waxaa uu sharxay shaqsiyadii Abwaanka, wuxuuna ku tilmaamay Hobol isaga isbaray dadka Soomaaliyeed, hobol qalbigiisa buuxiyay Wadaninimo, Hobol caan ku ah meexaalaha, madadaalada iyo Qaran baalwinnimada, wuxuuna ku sifeeyay Cabdulle Raage nin dadnimada gob ka ah, laguna soo hirto, wuxuuna kula dardaarmay shacabka Soomaaliyeed in ay ka qaataan tilmaamaha dadnimada dhisa ee uu lahaa Abwaan Cabdulle Raage, Suugaantii uu ka tegayna dadka baahiyaan oo ay xafidaan una duceeyaan.

Hadaba anagoo ah Bahda shaaciye.com waxaan ugu duceeynay in uu janadii fardowso aheyd ka waraabiyo oo uu durdurada webiyada iyo nimcooyinka janadii fardowso ka waraabo Aaamiin

Source: http://shaaciye.com/Rage.htm

Astrological proverbs of the Hawiyya

I here list apart some proverbs that are based on observations of the stars and on the solar year of the Somalis.    

1) “The waberís  appeared on Sunday: thus Danwên or of the people who are living with them! If the Sunday is on the 6: then Darôd or of the people dependent on them!” (Waberis  is the Somali name of the sa‘ban  lunation) The Danwen are a group of the Hawiyya tribe.  

2) ‘id sáfa digi mayso áqalki lögú dïsó  . “The safar does not make the hut that is built during it become a family.” 

3) “The month of sonqad   that starts on Saturday: the girl sells her modesty in order to buy polenta, the ninety-year-old man cries for food.” ( sonqad is the month of Ramadan.)    

4) “In the fortieth and in the mouth of a newborn child one is unable not to find a dribble.” (The fourth decade of the seasons of gu and dayr always brings rain.) “Between the year and the drops there are in the middle thirty nights.” (A light rain, which is called hagay,  is to be expected thirty days after the Somali New Year’s Day.)

6) “The moon of sékko,   if it appears on Wednesday, if it does not have great deceit, it has little deceit.” ( sékko is the Somali name of the lunation of muharram)

7) “The moon of boqoson if it appears precisely, it is propitious for the ovines and the camels; if it is late, they will become sick.” ( boqoson is the Somali name of the lunation of gumadà al-ahir.)      

8) “The lunation is of three novenes and three nights. Of the three novenes, one novene is for the nobles, one is for the religious, one is for the people. One who was born in the novene of the nobles has the behavior of the noble. One who was born in the novene of the religious has the behavior of a religious. One who was born in the novene of the people has the behavior of a common man. One who was born during the three nights has the behavior of a gloomy man.”

9) “One who was born in ‘kuhedín’ cannot be robbed of wealth. One who was born in ‘kalahánlä’   cannot be robbed of wealth. ( kuhedín   and kalahánlä  are the Somali lunar stations numbered 12 and 13, according to the nomenclature of the Hawiyya.)

10) “The kalahánlä  precedes the dirir by two nights. Its propitious days are Friday and Thursday. If it comes on another day, it is not propitious.” ( kalahanlä   is the 12th lunar station; dirir [= α Virginis] is the 14th station.)

References

Enrico Cerulli “How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

Sayings of the Hawiyya

The speech of an elder without quotations of proverbs would have little meaning and little value in an assembly of the Hawiyya people. And the quotations often follow one another in succession, giving a pungency, often joking or ironical, to the reasoning, which is thus fortified by the most ancient wisdom of the tribe. The proverbs that follow were collected precisely from the speeches of the Hawiyya a tribal leaders, especially Abgal and Guggundabe, during the discussions of their problems. Thus they have served, and are serving, to show some aspects of the true psychology of the Somalis and to place in an advantageous light some circumstances of the difficult daily life of the tribes and of the spirit of patient courage with which the distresses of that life are faced.

1) “Marriage is the nearby marriage; field is the nearby field.” (Wife and oxen from your countries.)

2) “Take what you know; it will produce for you known things.”

 

3) “The man whom you have not been able to know in only one day will not be known in a hundred days.” (The man of frank and loyal character manifests himself at the first meeting.)

 

 4) “The one who fasted for a hundred days, after the fast he ate as the first thing unclean meat.” (Sometimes, after having been patient and worked for a long time in order to obtain something, one commits such an act as to destroy all the work already done.)

 

5) “Not to talk to each other does not make comrades.”

6) “To one who has nothing, nothing is entrusted; to one who understands nothing, nothing is said.”

 

7) “Shall I say something to one who understands nothing, or shall I pick up the water of the sea with a spoon?”

 

8) “The leopard’s cubs are not held on the lap.” (One does not trust a person from whom, because of his precedents, it is possible to fear some injury.)

 

9) “The funeral and marriage are debts” (because of the heavy expenses that are encountered for the traditional festivities).

 

10) “One has a hoary head, one has a hoary heart.” (Sometimes wisdom does not correspond to age.)

 

11)“The caliph does not wait for the age of judgment.”

 

12) “In counsel the paternal uncle is the strongest, and in counting, the number ten.” (Just as it is not possible to count on the fingers beyond 10, so, after having consulted the paternal uncle, nobody else in the family may be consulted.)

 

13) “The maternal uncle laments, but does not avenge.” Traditional saying about the juridical customs: the maternal relatives are excluded from the obligation of blood vengeance.

 

14) “If one knows your fault, it is not to be made known to a thousand. If a thousand know your fault, it is not to be made known to one [other one].” The proverb advises not exposing one’s own faults and one’s own deficiencies; wash the dirty linen at home, we would say.

 

15) “Old grudge and knobby cane break ribs.” (The most dangerous causes of fights are the angers concealed for a long time.)

 

16) “The heart of men and the eyes of ants are not seen” (because it is difficult to know the inner thoughts of men).

17) “Soul out of the body and rain of deir   do not come back.” (During the season of deir   it normally rains only once a day.)

18) “King and wife: it is to be observed how they begin.” (From the morning one knows the nice day, we say in a more general sense.)

 

19) “If you become honey, you will be licked.” It is the Somali correspondent of a very widespread series of proverbs expressing the idea that one who acts with insufficient firmness succumbs to the stronger.

 

20) “The slanderer needs a hollow place.” (Slander needs some kind of support in order to exercise its pernicious action.)

 

21) “A question handled standing and a camel loaded standing have to be reloaded many times.” (Thing done in a hurry never turn out well.)

 

22) “ ‘I will say’ is better than ‘I wanted to say.’ ” (It is preferable to express completely one’s own thoughts on a question than to hide them and then to be sorry for not having spoken in time.)

 

23) “To tell something that is hearsay is to tell a lie.” (Things that have not been witnessed are not to be referred to.)

 

24) “To the Imam only his cousin tells the truth.” (Only relatives may speak of the unpleasant truth that others hide either because of adulation or because of fear.)

 

25) “I ask pardon of the one who will ask pardon of me.” (We all may find ourselves in situations of asking for pardon, because we all may make mistakes.)

 

26) “Only one finger does not wash the face.” (Unity is strength.)

 

27) “A man does not know the advice, the people know the advice.” (The voice of the people /is/ the voice of God.)

 

28) “As long as there is the bellows, the iron does not cool.” (As long as the causes of a controversy or the people who are interested in provoking it are not eliminated, it cannot be said to be ended.)

 

29) “Lie that runs does not reach the truth.” (A lie has short legs.)

 

30) “One should not lose his head over something lost.” (When a misfortune is irremediable, it is better to be resigned than to make one’s own situation worse with useless acts.)

 

31) “The hearts of men are pieces of wood that, by being rubbed, make light.” (What is missed by only one is not missed by two who consult each other, just as a spark arises from rubbing two pieces of wood.)

 

32) “One does not become ‘sheikh’ in five days.” (Long experience is worth more than a hasty impression.)

 

33) “The cat in its house has the canine teeth of the lion.”

 

34) “If it is obtained by you or obtained for you, thanks be to God!” (It is the same if a favor is obtained directly or obtained for others through the intercession of a friend.)

 

35)  “One who talks alone and one who aims at the ground do not make mistakes.” (It is necessary to hear the two bells /the two sides of the question/, we would say.)

 

36) “Of two four-year-old boys, one living alone with his mother is stronger.”

 

37) “To a great man belongs patience, to a small one, his portion.” (It is not right that an old person be disputed, even for his rights.)

 

38) “The bold wife will end by asking: ‘Escort me (to him)!’ ” (All rebels end by asking an intercessor for submission.)

39) “The cow and its calf are separated by the war.” (Events dissolve the closest bonds.)

40) “That only you know and that others know together with you are not equally good.” (It is always better that for an event there are witnesses that can be named in possible contestations.)

 

41) “For one 60 years old seek one who curbs his mouth” (because old people do not always succeed in controlling themselves).

 

42) “Did you build a hut or did you pay the blood price?” (Because of the high price of the construction of a hut in the zone of the ‘black land.’)

 

43) “The hawk has a reputation for digging,” and any offense of that kind (even if not committed by it) is imputed to it.

 

44) “The cubs of the leopard have a spotted coat.” (Like father like son.)

 

45) “Do not put your trust in me! Do not die for me! money said” (because of the difficulties that are encountered later through the collection of the credits).

 

46) “May your neighbor not be sent to you as a spy!” (He is always the best informed about your acts.)

 

47) “One who is born in justice does not refuse justice.” (Noblesse oblige.)

 

48) “Hit with one hand, pay with the other one!” (Everybody must bear the consequences of his acts.)

 

49) “Whoever has been burned with fire thinks that the ashes may also be burning.”

 

50)  “The stagnant water is stirred by the running water.”

51) “O great God! who may gain you? The one who prays to me may gain me. O land of the Lord, who may gain you? The one who perseveres may gain me. O man! who may gain you? The one who gives me something may gain me.”

52) “The question that arose among your relatives breaks your heart” and you run to participate in it.

 

53) “If one takes a drum, he wants to play for a dance.”

 

54)  “The molars of the thief and the virile member of the lustful man: the one who introduces them must pay [the sum owed].” (Whereas for blood vengeance there is the solidarity of the tribe, the thief and the lustful one answer individually.)

 

55) “ ‘Alas!’ is not a name; it is the lament of a sorrowful person.” (It is not enough to lament; it is necessary to specify persons and things about which there is a complaint.)

 

56) “One who runs after women is not told: Rule a people!”

 

57) “A stolen she-camel does not produce lawful camels.” (Like father, like son.)

58) “One who has killed a dig-dig. The dwarf antelope ( digdig  ) is captured with a noose by the hunters. ) with a snare cuts a [another] snare.”

59) “The dig-dig that likes life does not enter the mosque of the hunters.” (The weak one should never trust the strong ones!)

 

60) “One with lower intelligence is told: Recite your generations!” (Because the freed and the low castes have an inferior mentality.)

 

61) “Whoever enters a bovine enclosure at night: if he milked a cow, he milked it, if he did not milk it, he milked it.” (Do not put yourself in such situations as to be — though innocent — accused by the circumstances.)

 

62) “I carry a vessel of milk and leave from an enclosure of sheasses: I am a milkmaid of she-asses.” It is a variation of the preceding proverb: men judge from external circumstances.

 

63) “The one who has lighted the fire becomes warm there!” (One who has provoked a question should think of how to resolve it!)

 

64) “Slaughter the heifer so that the ox will give up hope!” (Because when one slaughters the heifer, from which one expects to have milk, it is clear that the ox will not be spared.)

65)  “In times of famine children are not made to vomit in front of the crowd” (because it is not known what they may vomit, since in difficult times everything becomes lawful).

66) “The camel of Mahay has many witnesses.” Mahay is a well much frequented by the Mantan; thus the proverb is quoted for well-known facts; we would say, lippis et tonsoribus / an abbreviated form of a saying to the effect that “the whole world knows it”/.

 

67) “When the nobles come, people have goat eyes.” (They become timid on account of respect.)

 

68) “The pot in which something is cooked is in trouble; the one who cooks is impatient. The one who handles a question is in trouble; the one for whom it is handled is impatient.”

 

69) “The one who does not get tired has wealth; the one who does not despair has a family.”

 

70) “To the one who says ‘ker’ to you answer ‘kir’  !” That is: repay him in kind! Answer tit for tat!

71) “When one is at war, one does not say to the coward: ‘Advise us!’ When one is at war, one does not say to the hero: ‘Advise us!’ When one is at war, one says to a man who has judgment: ‘Advise us!’ ” (Both fear and boldness may be bad advisers.)

72)  “One who has not poured water on my neck can not shave me” (that is, in order to obtain something it is necessary to flatter those from whom one expects the favors).

73) “The one who has enough milk does not stretch it with water” (whereas the poor man, by his condition, is forced to have recourse to all the expedients).

 

74) “The one because of whom one sleeps does not sleep.” (When, although one promises it, one does nothing in favor of someone, the one deceived must move and act by himself.)

 

75) “The one who surpasses you in eloquence will divide with you the inheritance from your father.”

 

76)  “What is not expected and an arrow make you scream from pain.”

 

77)  “The tree out of which one 20 years old has made a hut for himself, the one 60 years old will spend the midday there.”

 

78)  “Desire and the shadow behind are not to be reached.”

 

79)  “The one who respected you by a span it is best to respect by an arm.”

 

80)  “The people that says: ‘A chief is to be elected, and subchiefs are to be chosen!’ is a people who has a good harvest of durra” (otherwise they would not think about political fights).

81)  “May God not send us camels that eat the grass ‘ isil   and 337   indulgent rulers.” (The actual food of the camels is provided by the leaves of the acacia trees. The camel that eats by bending the head to the ground in order to look for grass instead of holding it high to eat from the branches is like an indulgent ruler.)

82) “From the one from whom one cannot obtain ‘Stand up!’ one may obtain ‘Lie down!’ ” (It is better to adapt the orders to the powers of the one who must follow them.)

 

83) “Thirsty ears understand: Drink!” (whatever else is said).

 

84) “For the viper [the appellation] small is not suitable” (because it is poisonous even if small).

 

85) “Many words do not become the Koran.”

 

86)  “By his eye he is seen, with his stick he is hit.” ( Ex ore tuo   / from your speaking/.)

 

87)  “The country of the hemia sufferers, O God, do not indicate to others to our cost!” (Because there one with moderate health might be taken for an athlete.)

 

88) “I did not come to the sea to joke.” (From the distant woodland the Bedouin has arrived at the shore: thus he has a serious reason for such a trip.)

 

89) “The man of many purposes, the woman of many men, the camel of many capers. gälgälinyo are the movements that the camel makes, once unloaded, placing itself with its back on the ground and turning from one side to the other. ), they differ in nothing.”

 

90) “If the ‘salam ‘alaykum’   was not bad, neither will the “alaykum es-salam   be bad.” (To a cordial salutation, a cordial response.)

 

91)  “Your brother about whom you have spoken ill is not far from you.” (You will find him again and always nearby. Thus abstain from speaking ill of him!)

 

92) “The butchering is only one; but that of a she-camel is a thing apart.” (All are equal in the affection of the family; but somebody may be the preferred one, just as the she-camel is among the livestock.)

 

93) “The hunger because of which you killed a lamb is at the door” (you did not delay it much).

 

94) “He who has a tribe does not have sadness.”

 

95)  “I lost a donkey: ‘drink some oil!’ he told me” (for advice beside the purpose).

 

96) “Knowing your blood, gather together your kindness.” (Noblesse oblige.)

 

97) “The children cry near their mother and look in the eyes of the father” (from whom they expect material favors).

98)  “Games of the young and fence of fields: the one that you conduct there may make you leave it.” (Just as if you take a young friend of yours to the dance, he may take away your favorite girl, so if you introduce a stranger into your field, he may appropriate it.)

99) “The she-camel that likes the food walks in front of the herd” (it knows that it is better to run before the others in order to procure for itself the good pasture).

 

100) “Two who are at war do not give each other gifts of milk.”

 

101)  “Cows and women know the man” (because they always have him near).

 

102) “The people, the one who governs it and the thief know it.”

 

103) “At night wild animals are all wild animals are all wild animals; by day they spend the midday under different trees.”

 

104)  “The talkative woman and the mare that runs a little make the people come down.”

 

105) “That it gives birth, that it produces a female, and that it dies is the worst luck for a she-camel.”

 

106) “O young man, before observing your saying, your giving, and your striking, I shall not raise for you the trill of happiness.” (I wait for your ordeals.)

 

107) “One who likes to dance and one who has the soil irrigated do not agree.”

 

108) “Expected wound does not cause fear.”

 

109) “To one who complains of the piece of dig-dig meat is shown the tracks of the animal.” (If the dwarf antelope killed is so small, the meat to share will certainly be little.)

 

110)  “Two collectors of fruit do not agree.”

 

111) “The impatient woman does not have a marriage portion and her husband does not give testimony.” (The woman who does not know how to wait will not find a husband, since she offers herself too obviously. And if she finds one, her husband, harassed by her impatience, is too nervous to become a reliable witness.)

 

112) “If one loads a donkey, it is not believed that his father had camels.” (The poor one is not thought to have been rich in the past.)

 

113) “One lives on news and food.” (To keep up-to-date about what is happening is as important as food.)

 

114) “If a piece of iron is broken, it is broken by the blacksmith” (and, if a question arises, one goes to the leader, who may settle it).

115) “You are not called woman if you have not first divided the polenta in a time of famine, and your modesty and your patience have been seen.”

 116) “The one who refuses the land, where is he to be buried?” (And one who does not want to accept the discipline of his tribe, where will he find help?)

117) “One who has his father living does not become a lord.”

 

118) “O people, know your leaders! O leaders, know your robe!” (To the respect of the people corresponds the restraint of the leaders.)

 

119) “Burned hut does not care about other huts.”

 

120) “The first question to be decided is food; and the second one is again food.”

 

121) “Although the grave hides, the tree does not hide.” (Only death frees one from the obligations for blood revenge.)

122)  “Because of the grudge that is felt against the crocodile, blows are given to the water of the river.

 

References; Enrico Cerulli “How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

Hereditary succession

The Inheritance law of the Abgal

When one dies, the children belong to the paternal uncle. The wealth is inherited. If there are four children, five shares are made: one share belongs to the mother, the other four shares to the four children. If there is a girl, she also has one share. The father’s wealth is inherited. The girl has one quota, the boys have four quotas. The mother has one quota. The gifts that any of the children might have received from the father remain with the child. They are not counted in the inheritance. So it is. If there are two female children, each one has one portion of the two portions that a male child would take. If there is only one female, child, she takes as much as the male child takes. This falls to the only female child.

“Someone has died. His wife is married by levirate. Then the wife dies. The goods of the woman are inherited by the children of whom he [the bridegroom by levirate] is paternal uncle and whom the woman produced — the goods that the woman has: the ‘meher’   given by the deceased first husband, and the goods that have been left to her by her father — these goods are inherited by him [the bridegroom by levirate] and by the children that she has produced. He has one quota. The children, if there are four, have one quota each. That man [the paternal uncle] and the four children each have one quota. So they are equal. If he refuses the marriage by levirate, he does not inherit. Nothing belongs to him from the inheritance.

“If I die without children, my heritage is divided into three parts. The two male children and the female one born with me (my brothers and sister) inherit. The female one and the male ones have unequal parts. They inherit the goods. If my father is alive, my goods belong to him. If my mother is alive, nothing is given to her.

If one dies without either children or brothers and sisters, the woman that he married inherits and the paternal uncle inherits. No others inherit. The uncle has a bigger quota; they do not have equal quotas. To the woman are given six thalers of ‘meher’   and a head of livestock. The other goods belong to the uncle

“If one is alone, without brothers and sisters, without father, without mother, the tribe in which he was born and in which he died inherits. His flock is guarded. The money is taken out. From each thaler something is given to him: to the [deceased] man. And to him, with a funeral animal, the funeral honors are given. The ‘sulús’   is not read; the ‘fiddou’   is not paid. The Koran is read. Only one animal belongs to him for the funeral, nothing else from these goods belong to him.

“If one dies and his paternal uncle and his mother are alive, if Islamic Law is observed, something belongs to her (to the mother). If it is a matter of the customs of us Abg[unknown]al, none of the goods is given to her. She is sent away. Those goods [that are given to her] are an obol. If one dies and one has a maternal uncle, if he is a maternal uncle natively of another tribe, none of the goods belongs to him. If he is a maternal uncle also related through the father’s side [literally: son of paternal uncle] and there is no closer relative, three shares of the goods are made — for him, for the mother, and for the funeral of the deceased. The funeral honors are given to him with a head of livestock, a head of livestock is given to the mother, and the rest belongs to the maternal uncle.

“If one dies and his father is alive, one head of livestock belongs to the wife of the deceased, according to the Law. According to the customs of us Abgal, she is given the ‘meher.’   Nothing else is given to her. If the woman is pregnant, his goods are kept, one does not inherit. No others take them, they are afraid. If she gives birth to a boy, she keeps his goods. If she wants the marriage by levirate, she is married. If she refuses the man, the goods and the boy are taken from her. If she gives birth to a female child, an agreement is made about the goods. One share belongs to her (the mother); two shares are given to the daughter; the paternal uncle or the brother [of the deceased] claims the other goods.

These customary norms concerning succession among the Abgal, norms that are far removed from the Mussulman law at more than one point, are first to be clarified, in the sense that they refer only to the inheritance of movables. The immovables are excluded from these norms, since — as I have already said elsewhere the right to individual property has been introduced into the preeminent right of the tribe. Moreover, in the text translated here the Somali word adopted for ‘goods’ is holo, which literally means ‘livestock’ (the corresponding Galla hola means specifically ‘sheep’). The customs thus presented therefore concern only the ‘money’ and indeed not the ‘land.’

It is to be remembered further that, with regard to the women, the right of succession is limited to the institution of the levirate ( dumal in Somali), which we find in full force here among the Abgal So the woman married to her deceased first husband’s brother, if she dies in turn, has as heirs of her goods the second husband (formerly her brother-in-law) and the children of the first and of the second marriage, since, according to the Somali custom, contrary to Hebraic law, the children of the two marriages are all considered to belong to the second husband. If, instead, the brother-in-law did not exercise his right to marry her (or, of course, if the widow redeemed herself from the right of the levirate), he, the brother-in-law, does not share with the children in the inheritance from his brother’s widow. Under another hypothesis, considered by the customs, the widow, upon the husband’s death, if she is pregnant, retains possession of the movable goods of the husband in the interests of the newborn child, without the inheritance being opened. At the birth, if a child is a male, the brother-in-law asks to marry her (by levirate): if she accepts, besides keeping her own property (nuptial gift from the first husband, etc.), which happens in any case, she comes into the familial inheritance, acquiring rights to the goods of the first and second husband. If, on the other hand, she freed herself from the levirate, she loses any right to the inheritance from the first husband and she also loses the ‘custody’ of the male child.

But there also further intervenes in the norms concerning inheritance the importance, which in the belief of the Somali pastoralists is traditional, of the solemnity of the funeral. The very ancient ideas about survival after death with the vital necessities analogous to the earthly ones, as I have said elsewhere, cause a part of the patrimony of the deceased to be used for the funeral and the ceremonies that mark the beginning of the life beyond the grave of the one who died. Thus, in fact, various consuetudinary norms reserve a quota for these expenses, which may even be substantial, according to the rank of the deceased in the tribe. That in such ceremonies, besides the sacrifice of livestock, readings from the Koran are also imposed is a good indication of the elaboration of these ancient ideas adopted in the Islamic religion.

The Assembly of the Tribe

During the assembly of the tribe, which used to be held once a year on a particular date fixed for each tribe, and in a traditional locality, groups of armed participants in the assembly made a tour of the clearing where the gathering took place and, passing in front of the leaders, used to sing in distichs in warlike rhythm the problems that were especially to be dealt with.

Thus during an assembly of the Barisä Mantan (Abgal people of the Hintiro) in February, 1920, Barisä warriors sang about a quarrel that set them against the Yusuf (another Abgal people) because a Yusuf was responsible for the death of an old Barisä woman, and thus the Barisä people were waiting for the payment of the blood price by the Y[unknown]usuf people. The assembly ( sir ) met in the clearing of Kudkudalä.

“Consider the old woman! they tell me. Otherwise your throat will be cut!.”

And a crowded throng of archers sang:

“From Weririllo I am leading the throng. To the river and to the well you carry my word!   Because of this poison of the arrows (wabayo) I am mad. To the river and to the well you carry my word!   The vessel of poison is this one! The numbered days of life are these.   The Warfay Barisä are these. The ones who restrain the mad are these.  Your word has restrained me. (Otherwise) before dawn I would have gone (to take revenge).

Another group of armed men also asked not to be held back any longer from avenging themselves against the Y[unknown]usuf, here also designated with the name of their ancestor Dabruba.

 

“The people who refuse your authority, the Dabruba: they want to kill.   The old woman whom they have killed had delivered children. One should not delay. Let me!   You have made my voice delay within me. I shall kill the Dabruba. Let me!”  

 

“I am taking my debt from the Dabruba! My land is not a wilderness.”  

For their part, the Yusuf some days later held their meeting in the clearing of Ger; and their armed men responded to the songs of the Barisä with these distichs:

Whom shall I ask for the old woman? And now you are raving at me?   The old woman was carried off by the vulture. And now whom will you ask for her?   Malediction and bad night (you will have), if ever you ask me for the old woman.   If ever you ask me for the old woman, could you then spend the night at Habay

Habay is a group of wells of the Mantan (thus also of the Barisä) along the coast of the Indian Ocean north of Mogadiscio

Another group of Y[unknown]usuf boasted, in distichs, of their obedience to authority and asked in turn to be left free to act against the Barisä.

“The Dabruba follow their leaders. I do not reject your advice. Whether you hit me or whether you let me (act), I do not reject your advice.   You have caused injustice and the emissaries to be delayed ( That is, you have rendered vain the secret maneuvers against good reason) I do not reject your advice.  The Dalas provoke me. I do not reject your advice. Can I not be left free against the Dalas? I do not reject your advice.”  

The Barisä are designated in these distichs with the nickname of “Dalas.”

A third group of armed men sang:

“I am the floor of the Dabruba. I want to reject injustice.”  

The first verse means that that group declares itself the very base on which the tribe could rest.

 

 

Saddehliya on the vaunts of tribes

The ‘vaunt’ of the tribes may also be expressed in the traditional form of the saddehliya   (‘By three’), about which we have already spoken. Thus:

1)  The People of the black land

“Three things do not arrive where it was thought they would: the contentment of the women, the rain that falls in the afternoon, and the people of the black land. The rain that falls in the afternoon appears to you from far away and you see it fall nearby. The happy woman, however happy she may be tonight, you will see her melancholy tomorrow morning. The people of the black land, a notable, yet you will see him offend people and feel the women. They do not arrive where it was thought they would!”

Thus the pastoralists of the woodland joke about the unexpected attitudes of the Hawiyya tribes settled in the villages of the “black land” of the valley of the Webi (Badi ‘Adda, Molkal, Mobilen, etc.), tribes that have fewer scruples in some of their attitudes than the people of the woodland remaining more attached to the customs.

2) Virtues and vices of the Guggundabe, of the Abgal, and of the Hawadla.

“The Guggundabe have three things, the Abgâl have three things, the Hawadla have three things. Wide livestock enclosures, a torn robe, and poor people who are killed, the Guggundabe have these three things. Bleached hair, advice without wisdom, and ways by which they emigrate together, the Abgal have these three things. Tobacco that is eaten, thieves with whom to go stealing, and much good advice, the Hawadla have these three things.”

This saddehliya comments ironically on the good and bad qualities of the Guggundabe tribes (Galga‘el, Badi ‘Addo, etc.), of the Abgal, and of the Hawadla. The ‘bleached hair’ alludes to the Abgal custom of working into the hair an argillaceous earth that lightens it so much as to make it light blond.

3) The qualities of the tribes of the middle Webi: from the Abgal to the Hillibi.

The magic that is written, the reflection that has been inherited from the fathers, and the reckoning of the genealogies: for these three things the Abgal ‘Isman are noted. Nice greetings, food even nicer, and deceptions to the cost of the people which are being plotted: for these three things the Wa‘dan ‘Isman are noted. To remain in his own house, to cultivate his own field,  to refuse hospitality: for these three things the Mobilen are noted. Scorched forehead, light hand, and, if you touch them, they crowd against you: for these three things the Hillibi Darandólla are noted.

The Abgal pastoralists are expert in the fal:   divination of the future by means of signs on the sand. Thus, the reflexivity of the Abgal, the asserted falsity of the Wa‘dan, the homely and parsimonious life of the good Mobilen agriculturalists follow one another in the descriptions of this short essay.

There is noted for the Hillibi the use of burns on the forehead against headaches (burns in the shape of the letter alef   made with a metal needle); and the immediate reaction in defense of their joint interests.

4) What is preferable in three Hawiyya tribes.

“It is preferable to travel with five cicatrices than to travel with five Guggundabe. It is preferable to consult five stones than to consult five Abgal. It is preferable to know five hyenas than to know five Mobilen.”

In this harsh saddehliya there is reference to the surprises and ambushes that the Guggundabe may reserve for their caravan companions; to the lack of wisdom in the advice of the Abgal (yet praised in the preceding saddehliya  for their reflexivity! but not all the estimations agree); and to the typical avarice of the Mobilen, from whose friendship, it is said, there is nothing to be obtained.

5) The causes of the quarreling of three Darandollä tribes.

Three quarrel for three. The ‘Eli ‘Umar quarrel about the wells. The Mohammed Musa quarrel about the fields. The Mantan ‘Abdullah quarrel about the dances.”

The three tribes mentioned, all of the Darandollä group, ‘Eli, Mantan, and Yusuf (here designated genealogically with the name of Muhammed Musä), are each interested in a particular activity about which they are ready to quarrel: the waterings, the fields, and the dances, respectively.

6) The weak points of three Darandollä tribes.

Three in three things are surpassed. The ‘Eli are surpassed in the durra. The Mantan are surpassed in the Koran. The Yusuf are surpassed in well-being.”

Thus the three tribes likewise mentioned in the preceding saddehliya   also have three deficiencies: insufficient agriculture among the ‘Eli; insufficient religious doctrine among-the Mantan; insufficient wealth among the Yusuf.

References; Enrico Cerulli ” How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

Some vaunts of the clans

What impassions some tribes

“The wild beasts appeared and the Murúsada flung themselves upon them”

The verse refers to the widespread belief that the Murúsada were werewolves; and thus here they seem to have stolen the ferocity of the wild beasts

“Respect appeared and the Daud flung themselves upon it”

The Daud are praised for the regard that they show toward guests.

“Bad manners appeared and the Darod flung themselves upon them”

The Darod, foreign to the Hawiyya peoples, to whom the singer belonged, are mocked for their impulsive reactions.

 “The purge appeared and the Hillibi flung themselves upon it”

And finally in this verse a joke is made about the frequency with which the Hillibi have recourse to a purgative beverage (digoo) in their villages.

 

Where to look for some things among the various tribes

 

“I went to raid the raw durra in the tribe of Galgä‘el”

The Galgä‘el, nomadic pastoralists — according to this verse, insulting for them — are used to eating durra in the ear, raw and not yet threshed. The unthreshed durra is called qamir   in the dialect of the Hawadlä; gilqab   in the Abgal dialect, whereas the Galgä‘el themselves call it addun.

“I went to raid the boiled beans in the tribe of the Abgal”

Here fun is made of the Abgäl and of their food of boiled beans (qalon)

“I went to raid the strength in the tribe of the Bimal”

The Bimal, of the region of Jilib, had made themselves a reputation for bravery.

“I went to raid the vehemence in the tribe of the Mobilen”

The Mobilen, the singer says, are famous for the qoq,   that is, the facility with which they become excited ( qoq ) , in the dialects of the Hawiyya, is properly speaking the period of heat of animals.

“I went to raid the beauty in the tribe of the Hawadlä”

 

Rich hospitality and poor hospitality among the tribes

Hawadla singer, who had requested hospitality in a village of the Badi ‘Addä and had been — he says — treated with the parsimony characteristic of the prudent agriculturalists, composed these verses in order to avenge himself, comparing the generosity of his tribe of pastoralists with the avarice of the Badi ‘Addä.

1) Qaf  is the Koran placed. My Lord is powerful.

2-4) The one who butchers a young camel for you and at the same time slices a watermelon for you and the one who instead warms green leaves for you and at the same time piles up the stubble for you (for a bed): according to my measure, they are not equal. Come on, choose one!

5-6) The one who has squeezed for you (essence of) coffee (milk of a) camel with large shoulders and the one who instead told you “take some!” of the polenta without gravy: according to my measure, they are not equal. Come on, choose one!

7-9) The one who has loaded for you a camel with a blackened neck and a she-camel fit for transport and the one who instead has put your loads on a braying donkey; do you not have brains? Come on, choose one!

These verses too resulted in a series of encounters between[unknown] Hawadlä and Badi ‘Addä; and one is to note also the usual ironic allusion (as in the song published above) to the predilection of the Badi ‘Addä peasants for the donkeys as beasts of burden instead of the noble camels of the pastoralists.

 

Tribes as inimical as leopards and lambs

Another poet of the Hawadlä, having recognized in groups that were dancing on a moonlit night some young men of the Galgä‘el tribe who had infiltrated into that meeting intended for the Hawadlä only, sang these verses; and it is easy to imagine what the consequences were.

1-4) The Bes, drinkers of milk, and the Bersanä of Gabay, the Bila‘, the Kabolä, and the Adan Yäbär who live in this Bay: and our boys of Bulo Balläy are two factions that are to be kept separated.

5-6) The spotted leopard and a little lamb of the sheep are two factions that are to be kept separated.

7-8) The speckled cow and the lame hyena are two factions that are to be kept separated.

The various peoples mentioned in the first stanza, Bes, Bersanä, Bila‘, Kabolä, and Aden Yäbär, all belong to the Galgä‘el tribe. Bulo Balläy, on the other hand, is a village of the Hawadlä. Bay is the pasture zone east of the Giuba /Juba/;Gabay is the pasture zone between Bay and the Webi.

 

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.)

 

 

Source; Enrico Cerulli  “How a Hawiye tribe use to live”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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”