SUDAN IMPRESSIONS

A Sudanese wedding

 

    Traditional dancing in Portsudan to honour the bride and groom on their wedding day

 



 

Both bride and groom adorn their hands and feet with henna tattoos which are traditionally drawn by an elder female family member. They will last for several days or even weeks and people will know that she is a newly wed woman as her henna tattoos will cover her entire arms and legs with fancy patterns.

 

 

Men and women start the wedding separately. While the men are officially declaring the marriage outside (kind of like setting up the wedding contract), the women are preparing the food for guests and family and are not allowed to join them - not even the bride herself.
 

At night she and her husband take part in an other ritual called "jertik". People are singing happily while a lot of perfume is being sprayed and even more bachur (Arabic incense) is burning. When marriages used to be forced on people who had never met each other before, this ritual was supposed to break the "barrier of shame" that existed between wife and groom and bless the couple.

Visiting a pottery workshop

All day men are working in the sun to produce clay so that they can process it to fascinating pots and jars. This picture shows "zeers" which are used to keep water cold for about two or three days in the traditional way. There are little holes that cool down the air before it gets to the water so no electricity is needed.

Our favourite food

Falafel, fool, white cheese, olives and white bread - just the normal Sudanese breakfast. We love it! Even though eating with our hands is cool, after a few days we are seriously struggling with having white bread with every meal. People in Sudan do not need cutlery, they just use bread instead.

Let us introduce you to "jbanna" ("jabanna"), the one and only real Sudanese coffee! Cooking it is a ritual which includes a lot of singing and talking, while one of the women mixes several spices like ginger (and some other ones that we have never heard and nobody knows the translation of) and burns the coffee beans on a small stove. It is so strong that people usually drink it with three spoons of sugar, but we are fine having about four cups a day because it is so delicious!

Arkawit, The Red Sea Mountains

 

 

Portsudan by the Red Sea

 

Sudanese history

 

Hieroglyphs in an ancient Sudanese temple, similar to the more famous ones in Egypt.

 

 

Khalifa's mosque, an old building which was the residence of Abdallahi Ibn Mohammed. He had the Khalifat of Omdurman from 1885 to 1898 before he lost against the British in the Battle of Omdurman.

THE DANCE OF THE SOFIYA

Scroll down for English 

Die „Sofiya“ sind eine Ordensgemeinschaft des Islam, die im Sudan weit verbreitet ist. Die persische, im Deutschen geläufigere, Bezeichnung ist „Derwisch“. Jeden Freitag treffen sie sich wie alle anderen Moslems zum Freitagsgebet – nur ist es bei ihnen ein Freitagstanz, der „Tanz der Derwische“. An mehreren großen Plätzen versammeln sich die Männer der Sofya und beginnen in einem Kreis ihr Ritual, meistens in traditionellen grünen Gewändern. Trommeln spielen laut und es wird im Rhythmus dazu gestampft und gesungen, geführt von ein paar Männern in der Mitte des Kreises, die sich besonders wild bewegen und in den Liedern den Ton angeben. Oft drehen sie sich so lange um ihre eigene Achse, dass sie in eine Art Trance verfallen, deren Ziel es ist in eine religiöse Ekstase zu erreichen, die den Tanzenden näher mit Allah verbindet oder zumindest dabei helfen soll das Göttliche in sich selbst zu finden.

Wir fahren an einem Freitagnachmittag nach Omdurman, um uns diese spezielle Art der Meditation anzusehen. Da wir von den Gesängen nicht mehr als das Wort „Allah“ (Gott) verstehen, können wir nur beobachten und uns von der Musik inspirieren lassen. In ihr werden grundsätzlich entweder die Namen Gottes rezitiert, oder es wird die Liebe zum Propheten Mohammed besungen. Das ganze Ritual ist durchaus faszinierend, aber auch höchst verwirrend und obwohl es nur ein paar Minuten dauert müssen wir danach noch lange darüber nachdenken.

Als Frauen dürfen wir leider nicht in den Kreis der Tanzenden, weshalb Suhail es übernimmt sie zu filmen und Fotos zu machen. Vielen Dank!

The „Sofiya“, also called “dervish”, are a religious order of Islam. As Muslims do they meet every Friday for their prayer, but instead of doing it in a mosque they dance. After gathering in a big square they start their dervish dance ritual by listening to loud drums and singing religious chants that worship Allah (God) or his prophet Mohammad. They circle and some of the men within encourage the others to sing louder and dance harder. At some point they start spinning until they enter some kind of religious trance that is supposed to connect them to God or at least help them to find God within themselves. The rhythms are very catchy and intense so that the people taking part in the ritual forget everything else and completely focus on the prayer.

To see this special meditation we go to Omdurman on a Friday afternoon. Since we cannot understand the language – apart from the repetition of the word “Allah” – we simply watch the men in their traditional green clothes and get inspired by the music. It is rather fascinating and even though it only takes a few minutes we cannot stop thinking about it for a while afterwards.

Unfortunately the fact that we are women prohibits us to enter the circle, but Suhail is kind enough to take pictures and film short videos for the blog. Thank you for that!

Video URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJC506ah-Yc

SUHAIL'S POST

Amuna's cousin Suhail is an extraodinarily talented photographer and while showing us Sudan he also taught us a lot about his passion. We wanted to share both of it with you and he kindly agreed to provide a blog post for The Tournalists. These pictures are his favourite sights of Sudan, some of them were taken at home and some far away on travels through the country. Thank you so much for that, Suhail!