TelegraafM موقع إلكتروني إخباري يصدر من أمستردام
مقالات مشابهة
PERS AMSTERDAM
The Sudan spans a vast area stretching from the southern territories of Egypt down to the equatorial regions in central Africa, hence the existence of different ethnicities, cultures and faiths, though Islam constitutes the cultural background of the majority of the population, particularly in the central and northern parts of the country, while the southern, southeastern and western parts the cultures are purely African mixed with a little Islam
The tribal and linguistic cultures have a considerable impact on the majority of the Sudanese people and the tribal element interferes in most of the daily practices, social functions and marriages. The tribal background is given priority in the social functions and the tribal customs predominate in the rural communities. The customs and traditions are largely similar among the main Sudanese tribes in the north: The Nuba (Halfaween, Mahas, Sucut, Danaglah), Shaygiyyah, Ja’aleen, Shukriyyah and inhabitants of central Sudan, and although the Nuba are originally non-Arabs, the similarity is attributed to the mingling of those tribes over ages
The Key Sudanese Traditions and Customs: –
The Sudanese ethnic groups, diverse as they are, have come to be known as conservative and pious and the customs and traditions are connected with religious occasions like the Holy Month of Ramadan, the Greater Bairam and Lesser Bairam and also with social occasions like marriages and mourning. The Sudanese had an exclusive tradition of “beauty” scars on cheeks or temples which differ from one tribe to another while those scars are made on the forefront. His custom, which has now nearly vanished except in a few rural isolated areas, are believed to have been connected with the defunct slavery and, as they could not be rubbed, an arrested individual could be identified and his people rushed for rescuing him. The scars used to be considered a feature of beauty for women
The Kinds of Scars: –
The scars differed from one tribe to another; the Shaygiyyah, for instance, had three horizontal scars on each cheek, some other Arab tribes had an H shape on each cheek, the Nubis three vertical scars III or two smaller ones on the temples also on each cheek. The South Sudanese Nuer tribe uses horizontal thin scars all over the forefront, for some sub-tribal group of the Dinka tribe, an individual had small circles covering the whole face and a Chuluk person had a row of protruding circles above the eyebrows
The Wedding in Sudan: –
The wedding, called Iris in the Sudanese dialect is celebrated well ahead of the actual wedding day. It starts of acceptance of the proposal by the family of the finance, then girlfriends of whom hide her away and serve her an intensive program of feeding and keep her away from the sun so that she become highly agreeable on the wedding night. This night is preceded by a henna singing ceremony, a rite for each of the fiancé and finance’s separately. Then comes the final wedding party during which the bride and bridegroom are seated together with relatives and friends queuing to congratulate them amid music and dancing
The marriage proposal is accepted so long as the proposing man is free of any moral defects and of good conduct, no matter how his financial position is, and the marriage contract is usually made in a nearby mosque by a “mazoun”, a religious sheikh officially authorized to conclude such contracts
The popular Costumes: –
The costume differs from one tribe to another with each tribe having its special costume; the Nubian woman in the north, for instance, wears a long dress that drags behind her on the ground, and a black gown, sort of an overcoat, while the Nubian man wears the Jalabiya (garment), a turban and a shawl. In the east, the woman wears the footah, a piece of beautiful cloth and the man wears arragy (a short garment), a sirwal (light-cloth pants) and a waist-coat, in the west, the woman wears a cotton black tobe, and an Indian sari-like cloth wrapping the body. However, the national costume consists of the Jalabiya, turban and shawl for men and tobe for women. National Information Center, Khartoum, Sudan
