Sudanese drinks
Sudanese drinks
Sudanese cuisine includes many dishes and drinks associated with its dry and hot weather. Certain drinks are served and enjoyed on different occasions or different states of health. Many adults will remember how, as children, they were made to drink different types of teas to ease a bout of stomach pain or cure a sore throat. Areas with dry climates around Sudan produce fruits like baobab, nabag or doum and wild plants like harjal (Solenostemma Arghel), maharib (Lemongrass, barbed wire grass) and roots like ghurunjal (Galangal Root). Locally, there are two known methods used to extract taste and flavor from all these different plants. Infusion, which means the plant is added to hot water or is boiled in water. This process is mainly used to produce teas or hot drinks as well as extracting various health benefits from the plants. Or soaking which means they are left in water at room temperature to allow the taste to infuse slowly. This is mainly used for cold and refreshing beverages.
Karakade or hibiscus tea, is one of the most known Sudanese products and is drunk both as a hot drink, sometimes called shiriya, or as a cold drink, after it is soaked in water for some time, the length of time is relevant to how fresh or strong the hibiscus flowers are.
Fermented drinks also undergo a soaking phase to bring out the taste, such as hilu-mur or abray made from sprouted sorghum seed sprouts that are dried, flavored, fermented and cooked into sheets which are then soaked in water and sugared before serving.
Header picture © Sari Omer, Eldamazin
Sudanese cuisine includes many dishes and drinks associated with its dry and hot weather. Certain drinks are served and enjoyed on different occasions or different states of health. Many adults will remember how, as children, they were made to drink different types of teas to ease a bout of stomach pain or cure a sore throat. Areas with dry climates around Sudan produce fruits like baobab, nabag or doum and wild plants like harjal (Solenostemma Arghel), maharib (Lemongrass, barbed wire grass) and roots like ghurunjal (Galangal Root). Locally, there are two known methods used to extract taste and flavor from all these different plants. Infusion, which means the plant is added to hot water or is boiled in water. This process is mainly used to produce teas or hot drinks as well as extracting various health benefits from the plants. Or soaking which means they are left in water at room temperature to allow the taste to infuse slowly. This is mainly used for cold and refreshing beverages.
Karakade or hibiscus tea, is one of the most known Sudanese products and is drunk both as a hot drink, sometimes called shiriya, or as a cold drink, after it is soaked in water for some time, the length of time is relevant to how fresh or strong the hibiscus flowers are.
Fermented drinks also undergo a soaking phase to bring out the taste, such as hilu-mur or abray made from sprouted sorghum seed sprouts that are dried, flavored, fermented and cooked into sheets which are then soaked in water and sugared before serving.
Header picture © Sari Omer, Eldamazin
Sudanese cuisine includes many dishes and drinks associated with its dry and hot weather. Certain drinks are served and enjoyed on different occasions or different states of health. Many adults will remember how, as children, they were made to drink different types of teas to ease a bout of stomach pain or cure a sore throat. Areas with dry climates around Sudan produce fruits like baobab, nabag or doum and wild plants like harjal (Solenostemma Arghel), maharib (Lemongrass, barbed wire grass) and roots like ghurunjal (Galangal Root). Locally, there are two known methods used to extract taste and flavor from all these different plants. Infusion, which means the plant is added to hot water or is boiled in water. This process is mainly used to produce teas or hot drinks as well as extracting various health benefits from the plants. Or soaking which means they are left in water at room temperature to allow the taste to infuse slowly. This is mainly used for cold and refreshing beverages.
Karakade or hibiscus tea, is one of the most known Sudanese products and is drunk both as a hot drink, sometimes called shiriya, or as a cold drink, after it is soaked in water for some time, the length of time is relevant to how fresh or strong the hibiscus flowers are.
Fermented drinks also undergo a soaking phase to bring out the taste, such as hilu-mur or abray made from sprouted sorghum seed sprouts that are dried, flavored, fermented and cooked into sheets which are then soaked in water and sugared before serving.
Header picture © Sari Omer, Eldamazin
Festive food
Festive food
In every culture anywhere in the world, feasts and food at celebrations are always at the heart of any occasion. This is perhaps the one thing that we humans all have in common; that we celebrate with food.
Sudan’s diverse cultures mean people always have different ways they cook and present their food at large events such as religious celebrations - the Moulid, Ramadan or Eid - or when someone returns from a long trip or recovers from an illness or has achieved academic or career success or even at the most popular event, weddings. Women from the family and neighbours from far and near gather to cook hearty meals and delicious dishes. Festivities themselves start well before the day itself usually by preparing, cutting and baking biscuits. The baskawit, khabiz, minen and ajwa biscuits and many more varieties are a very important component served to the waves of guests and well wishers who pass by in weeks and days before and after the wedding day.
The video shows fateer preparations, a light biscuit made especially for weddings consisting of flour, a pinch of salt, baking powder, vanilla, eggs and vegetable oil. The dough is then spread very thinly using a pasta making machine and cut into shapes and deep-fried in oil. The crunchy, light biscuits are dusted in icing sugar and handled with tremendous care not only because of how fragile they are, but because they are likely to be devoured by anyone who gets their hand on one!
In every culture anywhere in the world, feasts and food at celebrations are always at the heart of any occasion. This is perhaps the one thing that we humans all have in common; that we celebrate with food.
Sudan’s diverse cultures mean people always have different ways they cook and present their food at large events such as religious celebrations - the Moulid, Ramadan or Eid - or when someone returns from a long trip or recovers from an illness or has achieved academic or career success or even at the most popular event, weddings. Women from the family and neighbours from far and near gather to cook hearty meals and delicious dishes. Festivities themselves start well before the day itself usually by preparing, cutting and baking biscuits. The baskawit, khabiz, minen and ajwa biscuits and many more varieties are a very important component served to the waves of guests and well wishers who pass by in weeks and days before and after the wedding day.
The video shows fateer preparations, a light biscuit made especially for weddings consisting of flour, a pinch of salt, baking powder, vanilla, eggs and vegetable oil. The dough is then spread very thinly using a pasta making machine and cut into shapes and deep-fried in oil. The crunchy, light biscuits are dusted in icing sugar and handled with tremendous care not only because of how fragile they are, but because they are likely to be devoured by anyone who gets their hand on one!
In every culture anywhere in the world, feasts and food at celebrations are always at the heart of any occasion. This is perhaps the one thing that we humans all have in common; that we celebrate with food.
Sudan’s diverse cultures mean people always have different ways they cook and present their food at large events such as religious celebrations - the Moulid, Ramadan or Eid - or when someone returns from a long trip or recovers from an illness or has achieved academic or career success or even at the most popular event, weddings. Women from the family and neighbours from far and near gather to cook hearty meals and delicious dishes. Festivities themselves start well before the day itself usually by preparing, cutting and baking biscuits. The baskawit, khabiz, minen and ajwa biscuits and many more varieties are a very important component served to the waves of guests and well wishers who pass by in weeks and days before and after the wedding day.
The video shows fateer preparations, a light biscuit made especially for weddings consisting of flour, a pinch of salt, baking powder, vanilla, eggs and vegetable oil. The dough is then spread very thinly using a pasta making machine and cut into shapes and deep-fried in oil. The crunchy, light biscuits are dusted in icing sugar and handled with tremendous care not only because of how fragile they are, but because they are likely to be devoured by anyone who gets their hand on one!
Date harvesting
Date harvesting
Barkal, North Sudan 2015
Zainab Osman Mahgoub and Dr. Osman Mahgoub Gaafar
On the banks of the Nile strip in northern Sudan, the landscape from a distance may look all the same, such as on Google Maps. Vast land showing gardens offsetting the curves of the Nile, and enclaved by villages tinted with a brown color. They may all look similar, but villages, tribes, traditions and even languages differ in these vast areas of Sudan, as there is a wonderful diversity on the ground.
Al-Barkal is one of those towns, with the same palm tree gardens inhabited by the people of "Balad Be Tihit" or lower lands, and surrounded by the town of "Be Fawq", who are residents of the highlands far from the Nile. One of the well-known landmarks of the region and the reason behind the name of the town is al-Barkal mountain, which is a rock platform rising to four meters and a hundred, and on its side protrudes a rock resembling a minaret, which was previously carved. "Al-Shurayma", or “the crooked tooth” as the most famous Shayqiya poet Hassouna called it expressing his disappointment in one of the great Barkal leaders:
Mount Barkal, the one with a crooked tooth
It cannot mount to the mountain of Ibn Ouf in lower Hizaima
The temple of Amun, built by Baankhi and his son Taraqa (Tarhaqa), can be seen on the side of the mountain along with the continuously disapearing raw of rams. Some pyramids are scattered around the mountain, and the entire current town lies on the land of the capital of Kush during the reign of the Kingdom of Meroe.
View from Jebel Barkal with its side slit.
The pyramids of Barkal, which were burials of the kings of Nabta before the transfer of burials to Meroe (Bagrawiyah).
About two kilometers south of the mountain, on the main road, is the house of my grandfather Mahgoub Gaafar Mustafa, now inhabited and is run by my aunt Ruqayya. The house and my aunt are both important monuments as the ones mentioned above, at least for the following narrative. In the following text I will narrate the events of my visit to Barkal in 2015, to participate in the date harvest season, or as it is called "Hash Altamur". The text also contains interventions from my father, Dr. Osman Mahgoub Gaafar, for the purpose of maintaining the accuracy of the information, my experience that I formed in 10 Days is incomparable to his experience. The one who was raised in this house and grew up on these lands.
The house of my grandfather Hajj Mahgoub. Shown the front part or what is known as the Diwan or Saraya.
The main street in Barkal, which connects Meroe and Karima.
The date harvest season in the Barkal area begins in September or the month of "Nasea" as it is called in the old Egyptian Coptic months. This calendar is still used for the purpose of agriculture and harvesting in most regions of northern Sudan, where the months coincide with the emergence of clear weather changes or seasons. Dates in al-Barkal are dry dates, meaning that they are left to ripen and dry before harvesting, and therefore easy to preserve and store, making them more suitable for trade. Soft dates are dates harvested when they are still soft, kept in baskets stacked on top of each other, and left until they retain the moisture, which is not customary in northern Sudan. There are semi-soft dates in the areas of Rubatab and Jaaliyin in the Nile River state, from which Ajwa is made, such as the Mashreq, Wad Laqai and Wad Khatib.
Al-Barkal use to be safer in the past, but due to some recent harvest stealing incidents, there has become a tradition of guarding dates and setting a specific day to start harvesting to avoid thefts, as a specific day is set for the start of the entire harvest season, and there is a day for each sagyia or garden so that it is known that the owner of the sagyia is the one who is harvesting. In the year 2015 specifically, the eighteenth of September was the designated harvest day for our sagyia, owned by my grandfather's family. We went down early in the morning, me and my aunt Hafsa, may she rest in peace. She was the manager of the date business for the whole family and an excellent businesswoman. The “Qafaz” and his family came with us. The “Qafaz” is usually a partner to the owner of land, he cares for and harvest the dates, his name comes from the “Qafouza”, which is the process of pollinating dates, where the male palm - is planted in the female palm sapling, and this process takes place several months before the harvest season, that is, in winter, to contribute to the production of dates properly.
On our way to the lower lands, there was a row of young men, sitting on the ground on the main street, opposite the farms waiting for work, me and my two aunts, Hafsa and Aisha, may God have mercy on both of their souls, were not the only ones who had come in the days before the harvest season. We came from Khartoum, but this line of young men came from the vast deserts of northern Sudan, which are apparently not empty of inhabitants. In the harvest season, nomadic Arabs camp on the outskirts of the city. Men work in harvesting, and women work in small, scattered chores in homes, doing small magic tricks, or picking dates. The young man hired by my aunt from West Africa had come to northern Sudan to seek education in khalawi the Quranic schools found all around Sudan. He and his companions had come to work to collect a wage that would help him financially in the coming months. The harvest season is a blessed season, characterized by the abundance of wealth and happiness. People are temporarily enriched, which is always a reason for festivities. The time of our visit was no different, as our presence coincided with several weddings in the Hilla or neighborhood. Employees in the capital and other large cities and expatriates usually come on their annual vacations to visit during the harvest season. The joy of children on the other hand has two reasons, the first is that the harvest season is an official holiday from schools, so that they help their families in harvesting, and the second is that children have a wage for collecting dates, whether from their work with their family or from collecting the Haboob dates, which are the dates that fall on the ground from the impact of the strong wind, these dates are not of high quality, because they are heterogeneous, but children use this opportunity to increase their pile of dates in the corner of yard.
Dates of the Barkawi type after harvesting in a basket “guffa” made of Dom fronds, widely used as a container for dates, and other grains and crops.
The method of paying for the different types of characters participating in the harvest varies; the Qafaz, usually, takes his fare in the form of dates, as it has one or two branches “sabita” from each palm, depending on the agreement, and according to the height of the palm tree. The collectors prefer money, especially in recent years, and take their wages by the day, while children and young collectors are paid by a measured size they collect. They collect the dates that fall far away from the area around the palm until they complete a "kaila", a Kaila is a tin can equal to the amount of two quarters, and a quarter has two malwa, and the date sack is mostly the size of six kila, and all these are old measures of weights and size that are from an Islamic heritage. At the end of the season adults buy these kailat from the children.
Our small delegation arrived at the Sakgyia to start the process of harvesting dates. Agricultural plots in northern Sudan are divided into Sagiyas, and the sagiya is a piece of land equal to the area of what can be irrigated with a single watering machine also known as Saqyia, even after the old mill disappeared and was replaced by mechanical pump, the name remained as a measure until now. A sagiya is approximately equal to an area of twenty to thirty acres. An acre has twenty four carats, and a carat has twenty four “arrows”, and the sakia is divided by “ropes” and “bones”, which are length names, and the happiest is the owner of twenty-four carats of all kinds. The area is divided into a long strip of beds called Ingaya, and this strip is watered with a parallel water stream. The side of a single bed is usually in the range of five to six meters, and in the middle of each bed one palm tree is planted, sometimes two palm trees are placed in the corners.
A view from above of al-Barkal gardens
The mother palm tree is called "Omiya", and the small saplings called "daughters", they can be seen growing next to the tree. Three or four of them are usually left to keep the mother company, and the rest are replanted elsewhere. The palm tree is very similar to humans, it lives up to a hundred years, but does not stop growing, and after a while it becomes difficult to reach the top of the dates. Climbing the palm in al-Barkal area is done without using any auxiliary tools - such as a rope or ladder - but the bottom of trunk of the leafs known as "Al-Karoug" is left extruded when it is cut, and the harvester uses those parts to climb the tree, as the palm tree grows, these parts weakens and breaks causing the climbers to fall.
The Qafaz climbing the palm tree using on the Karouk.
A sabita or branch cut and thrown by the Qafaz on the floor over the linoleum.
After the Qafaz climbed the tree, the rest of the workers pulled a piece of tarpaulin underneath. The Qafaz first cut and lowered his branch, and then cut the rest of the branches for the owner of the land, then all the collectors– including me, I was promised a kila of dates if I helped collect the fallen dates – "scraped" the dates from the branch, that is, by hitting them on the ground until all the dates fell off, then remove the remaining dates by hand. Then the dates were collected in the middle of the linoleum and poured into the sacks. Although burlap sacks “shawal” look very local, they are in fact not; these sacks first appeared in the English colonial period, as they were and still are imported from India. The Kanaf factory in the Blue Nile that was built in the seventies of the last century tried to cover the market's need for sacks, but it stopped operating years ago. Now sacks are sometimes made from plastic in Sudan. The shawal is then sewn with “arjun” or iron wire and carried home.
Dates are cut from Arjun or Sabita.
Piling the dates
Sealing the sack using a wire
The full shawal was a sign that we can stop working to rest. The land was soon littered with the scattered bodies each finding shade to rest under. Lunch or brunch was sent from our house, as usual: Gurassa “wheat flat bread” and “waika” dried okra stew, followed by a nap. The cooks at home also have a wage at the end of the season, as no one works for free in the harvest season. We returned home at the end of the day, followed by a camel with sacks of dates that walked right into the house through the door, as was the case in the house of my great-grandfather, Mayor Gaafar, Wad Mustafa and Wad Muhammad, more than sixty years ago. The sacks were lowered into the yard, and then the dates were spread under the sun to dry completely.
Transporting date sacks using donkey carts.
Using camels to transport dates, and here is one entering the gate of Mahjoub Gaafar's Diwan.
People are usually afraid that the rain will fall suddenly and spoil the crop, because the harvest season is the rainy season or autumn, some are afraid to the point they ask the Shaiks to hold the rain. Next to our new pile was another pile for my other aunt Aisha, who had been brought before we arrived from another "driver" owned by the family of her husband, Muhammad al-Amin Sharif, may God have mercy on them. We found my aunt Aisha sitting proudly next to her high-quality Qandila dates, which are called “dates for eating”, such as tamuda and kalamah, which are dates produced in smaller quantities, and distributed in limited ranges, while our pile was from "Barkawi", which is a commercial date variety where it is produced in large quantities, and is exported in different parts of Sudan, while "Al-Jaw" is a lower quality date sold to those who do not care about the quality of dates.
The dates are piled up on the terrace of my grandfather’s yard, where they will be spread for days to dry in the sun before being packed in sacks.
During my stay in those ten days, there was no more important topic than dates and their conditions. Guests, passers-by and even the shopkeeper may ask you how much you have harvested? And how was the season? Is the date “Shail” or not? The "shail or sheel" is the degree to which the branch is filled with dates. And if this year the palm tree it is not “Shayla” then everyone in their councils discusses why. It could be climate change, as my aunt Ruqayya said in one of the sessions, or the dam lake has increased humidity in the area. In any case, dates were the master of subjects. Its fame was never threatened except once because of a notorious cat that stole fish from one of our neighbors and took over our kitchen several times.
On our second day of work, the house turned into a wedding house, where the women of the neighborhood came to bake the wedding tea biscuits of one of their sons in our large oven, which runs on gas, not like the old stoves that run on "wagood" – that is, dry palm leaves – especially "kood", which is the wide part of the palm leafs or arjun that survived the process of turning them into toys, such as the old game called Tab or whips made for disciplining the same children. As is usually the custom of wedding houses, the house was filled with laughter, teasing and singing, in the outdoor kitchen women worked with a biscuit machine, and others came to chat in the veranda, and the holder of the occasion brought lunch trays from her home to feed the guests, just like dates, the owner of the matter is always the one who must feed everyone.
The delicious biscuit that was made for one of the Hilla weddings.
If you lean next to one of the reclining women in the veranda, you will find yourself looking at the traditional roof. Traditionally houses are roofed with what? Of course, palm trunks, where the trunk is cut longitudinally into quarters or sixths, each of which is called "falaga". It is the main construction on which the roof is built. Then the stem of the leaf is placed on top of it after it is de-leafed and tied together. Previously, green palm leaves were usually by the thousand stems, cut from the palm while cleaning it outside the harvest season so that the dates would not be damaged, but now, palm owners pay workers to cut the leaves. Fronds and mud are placed on top of the newspaper, and finally animal waste or manure, usually donkey residues. Before autumn, this process is repeated for the ceiling and walls before the walls are painted white, and the water drains are cleared, as stagnant water and moisture are the enemies of mud houses.
A traditional roof with an iron beams and wood veins
The season ended and the second stage came, which is the packaging and distribution of dates. “The packers " are skilled workers who sort dates quickly and pack them, where bad dates "karmosha" are thrown to animals and sheep. In the past, dates were stored in silos of different sizes, made of clay and raised from the ground, called Al-Qasiba or Al-Qusaiba , also used to store crops such as wheat, and Al-Qasasib is still used in some villages in the north. In our region, dates are placed in tight sacks, raised above tree trunks or iron beams away from water and insects, and covered with plastic cover from above.
Dates are raised on stones or wood to protect them from damage and insects.
Clay silos (Qasiba) for the preservation of dates and grains are still used in some villages in the Far North.
"AlMusharf dates, which it’s protective walls were raised
The one which before it ripens the “sababa” middle men showed up
The happy on in the world takes the fate of his days
And on you Oh God I don't know what comes ahead
(old Shayqi poet)
Dates have multiple traders, mostly sababa; they are middlemen who buy dates from small dealers and collectors, and sell dates to market traders. The street vendors buy dates to retail in the market. Large merchants store dates in large warehouses and sell them wholesale to other merchants in large cities such as El Obeid, El Fasher, Nyala, Madani, Damazin, Al Nuhud and others. In the past, dates were transported down the river by ships to Karima, from there by train to all these cities by rail, and in the White Nile from Kosti to the south by ships and through the many roads that connect Sudan to each other. Dates also have a large market in eastern Sudan, where they are eaten with coffee. Dates are delivered to Port Sudan by trains and sold by the "Malwa" in the market.
In the late fifties, during the government of General Abboud and with American aid, a date canning factory was established in Karima. The machinery arrived from California, and was assembled at the factory, the factory produced dates stuffed with walnuts, almonds and coconut, and packed in beautiful boxes. As part of the packaging process, dates are fumigated to wash, clean and tenderize them, to facilitate their filling and removal of the seed/stone, which was used as animal feed, and the factory also produces white spirit or alcohol as a by-product and is used in hospitals to disinfect wounds. The factory stopped operating for a long time, but returned to work seasonally due to local Sudanese efforts as the dates were harvested.
Karima’s Fruit and vegetable canning factory, which was established by the Russians in the early sixties of the last century.
I returned to Khartoum with a kaila of dates, it was not given to me as payment because I did not last more than a quarter of a day. It was harder than I imagined, but the little "sackl" was a gift from my aunts for at least trying.
North Road Bus Station
Photo of passengers
Barkal, North Sudan 2015
Zainab Osman Mahgoub and Dr. Osman Mahgoub Gaafar
On the banks of the Nile strip in northern Sudan, the landscape from a distance may look all the same, such as on Google Maps. Vast land showing gardens offsetting the curves of the Nile, and enclaved by villages tinted with a brown color. They may all look similar, but villages, tribes, traditions and even languages differ in these vast areas of Sudan, as there is a wonderful diversity on the ground.
Al-Barkal is one of those towns, with the same palm tree gardens inhabited by the people of "Balad Be Tihit" or lower lands, and surrounded by the town of "Be Fawq", who are residents of the highlands far from the Nile. One of the well-known landmarks of the region and the reason behind the name of the town is al-Barkal mountain, which is a rock platform rising to four meters and a hundred, and on its side protrudes a rock resembling a minaret, which was previously carved. "Al-Shurayma", or “the crooked tooth” as the most famous Shayqiya poet Hassouna called it expressing his disappointment in one of the great Barkal leaders:
Mount Barkal, the one with a crooked tooth
It cannot mount to the mountain of Ibn Ouf in lower Hizaima
The temple of Amun, built by Baankhi and his son Taraqa (Tarhaqa), can be seen on the side of the mountain along with the continuously disapearing raw of rams. Some pyramids are scattered around the mountain, and the entire current town lies on the land of the capital of Kush during the reign of the Kingdom of Meroe.
View from Jebel Barkal with its side slit.
The pyramids of Barkal, which were burials of the kings of Nabta before the transfer of burials to Meroe (Bagrawiyah).
About two kilometers south of the mountain, on the main road, is the house of my grandfather Mahgoub Gaafar Mustafa, now inhabited and is run by my aunt Ruqayya. The house and my aunt are both important monuments as the ones mentioned above, at least for the following narrative. In the following text I will narrate the events of my visit to Barkal in 2015, to participate in the date harvest season, or as it is called "Hash Altamur". The text also contains interventions from my father, Dr. Osman Mahgoub Gaafar, for the purpose of maintaining the accuracy of the information, my experience that I formed in 10 Days is incomparable to his experience. The one who was raised in this house and grew up on these lands.
The house of my grandfather Hajj Mahgoub. Shown the front part or what is known as the Diwan or Saraya.
The main street in Barkal, which connects Meroe and Karima.
The date harvest season in the Barkal area begins in September or the month of "Nasea" as it is called in the old Egyptian Coptic months. This calendar is still used for the purpose of agriculture and harvesting in most regions of northern Sudan, where the months coincide with the emergence of clear weather changes or seasons. Dates in al-Barkal are dry dates, meaning that they are left to ripen and dry before harvesting, and therefore easy to preserve and store, making them more suitable for trade. Soft dates are dates harvested when they are still soft, kept in baskets stacked on top of each other, and left until they retain the moisture, which is not customary in northern Sudan. There are semi-soft dates in the areas of Rubatab and Jaaliyin in the Nile River state, from which Ajwa is made, such as the Mashreq, Wad Laqai and Wad Khatib.
Al-Barkal use to be safer in the past, but due to some recent harvest stealing incidents, there has become a tradition of guarding dates and setting a specific day to start harvesting to avoid thefts, as a specific day is set for the start of the entire harvest season, and there is a day for each sagyia or garden so that it is known that the owner of the sagyia is the one who is harvesting. In the year 2015 specifically, the eighteenth of September was the designated harvest day for our sagyia, owned by my grandfather's family. We went down early in the morning, me and my aunt Hafsa, may she rest in peace. She was the manager of the date business for the whole family and an excellent businesswoman. The “Qafaz” and his family came with us. The “Qafaz” is usually a partner to the owner of land, he cares for and harvest the dates, his name comes from the “Qafouza”, which is the process of pollinating dates, where the male palm - is planted in the female palm sapling, and this process takes place several months before the harvest season, that is, in winter, to contribute to the production of dates properly.
On our way to the lower lands, there was a row of young men, sitting on the ground on the main street, opposite the farms waiting for work, me and my two aunts, Hafsa and Aisha, may God have mercy on both of their souls, were not the only ones who had come in the days before the harvest season. We came from Khartoum, but this line of young men came from the vast deserts of northern Sudan, which are apparently not empty of inhabitants. In the harvest season, nomadic Arabs camp on the outskirts of the city. Men work in harvesting, and women work in small, scattered chores in homes, doing small magic tricks, or picking dates. The young man hired by my aunt from West Africa had come to northern Sudan to seek education in khalawi the Quranic schools found all around Sudan. He and his companions had come to work to collect a wage that would help him financially in the coming months. The harvest season is a blessed season, characterized by the abundance of wealth and happiness. People are temporarily enriched, which is always a reason for festivities. The time of our visit was no different, as our presence coincided with several weddings in the Hilla or neighborhood. Employees in the capital and other large cities and expatriates usually come on their annual vacations to visit during the harvest season. The joy of children on the other hand has two reasons, the first is that the harvest season is an official holiday from schools, so that they help their families in harvesting, and the second is that children have a wage for collecting dates, whether from their work with their family or from collecting the Haboob dates, which are the dates that fall on the ground from the impact of the strong wind, these dates are not of high quality, because they are heterogeneous, but children use this opportunity to increase their pile of dates in the corner of yard.
Dates of the Barkawi type after harvesting in a basket “guffa” made of Dom fronds, widely used as a container for dates, and other grains and crops.
The method of paying for the different types of characters participating in the harvest varies; the Qafaz, usually, takes his fare in the form of dates, as it has one or two branches “sabita” from each palm, depending on the agreement, and according to the height of the palm tree. The collectors prefer money, especially in recent years, and take their wages by the day, while children and young collectors are paid by a measured size they collect. They collect the dates that fall far away from the area around the palm until they complete a "kaila", a Kaila is a tin can equal to the amount of two quarters, and a quarter has two malwa, and the date sack is mostly the size of six kila, and all these are old measures of weights and size that are from an Islamic heritage. At the end of the season adults buy these kailat from the children.
Our small delegation arrived at the Sakgyia to start the process of harvesting dates. Agricultural plots in northern Sudan are divided into Sagiyas, and the sagiya is a piece of land equal to the area of what can be irrigated with a single watering machine also known as Saqyia, even after the old mill disappeared and was replaced by mechanical pump, the name remained as a measure until now. A sagiya is approximately equal to an area of twenty to thirty acres. An acre has twenty four carats, and a carat has twenty four “arrows”, and the sakia is divided by “ropes” and “bones”, which are length names, and the happiest is the owner of twenty-four carats of all kinds. The area is divided into a long strip of beds called Ingaya, and this strip is watered with a parallel water stream. The side of a single bed is usually in the range of five to six meters, and in the middle of each bed one palm tree is planted, sometimes two palm trees are placed in the corners.
A view from above of al-Barkal gardens
The mother palm tree is called "Omiya", and the small saplings called "daughters", they can be seen growing next to the tree. Three or four of them are usually left to keep the mother company, and the rest are replanted elsewhere. The palm tree is very similar to humans, it lives up to a hundred years, but does not stop growing, and after a while it becomes difficult to reach the top of the dates. Climbing the palm in al-Barkal area is done without using any auxiliary tools - such as a rope or ladder - but the bottom of trunk of the leafs known as "Al-Karoug" is left extruded when it is cut, and the harvester uses those parts to climb the tree, as the palm tree grows, these parts weakens and breaks causing the climbers to fall.
The Qafaz climbing the palm tree using on the Karouk.
A sabita or branch cut and thrown by the Qafaz on the floor over the linoleum.
After the Qafaz climbed the tree, the rest of the workers pulled a piece of tarpaulin underneath. The Qafaz first cut and lowered his branch, and then cut the rest of the branches for the owner of the land, then all the collectors– including me, I was promised a kila of dates if I helped collect the fallen dates – "scraped" the dates from the branch, that is, by hitting them on the ground until all the dates fell off, then remove the remaining dates by hand. Then the dates were collected in the middle of the linoleum and poured into the sacks. Although burlap sacks “shawal” look very local, they are in fact not; these sacks first appeared in the English colonial period, as they were and still are imported from India. The Kanaf factory in the Blue Nile that was built in the seventies of the last century tried to cover the market's need for sacks, but it stopped operating years ago. Now sacks are sometimes made from plastic in Sudan. The shawal is then sewn with “arjun” or iron wire and carried home.
Dates are cut from Arjun or Sabita.
Piling the dates
Sealing the sack using a wire
The full shawal was a sign that we can stop working to rest. The land was soon littered with the scattered bodies each finding shade to rest under. Lunch or brunch was sent from our house, as usual: Gurassa “wheat flat bread” and “waika” dried okra stew, followed by a nap. The cooks at home also have a wage at the end of the season, as no one works for free in the harvest season. We returned home at the end of the day, followed by a camel with sacks of dates that walked right into the house through the door, as was the case in the house of my great-grandfather, Mayor Gaafar, Wad Mustafa and Wad Muhammad, more than sixty years ago. The sacks were lowered into the yard, and then the dates were spread under the sun to dry completely.
Transporting date sacks using donkey carts.
Using camels to transport dates, and here is one entering the gate of Mahjoub Gaafar's Diwan.
People are usually afraid that the rain will fall suddenly and spoil the crop, because the harvest season is the rainy season or autumn, some are afraid to the point they ask the Shaiks to hold the rain. Next to our new pile was another pile for my other aunt Aisha, who had been brought before we arrived from another "driver" owned by the family of her husband, Muhammad al-Amin Sharif, may God have mercy on them. We found my aunt Aisha sitting proudly next to her high-quality Qandila dates, which are called “dates for eating”, such as tamuda and kalamah, which are dates produced in smaller quantities, and distributed in limited ranges, while our pile was from "Barkawi", which is a commercial date variety where it is produced in large quantities, and is exported in different parts of Sudan, while "Al-Jaw" is a lower quality date sold to those who do not care about the quality of dates.
The dates are piled up on the terrace of my grandfather’s yard, where they will be spread for days to dry in the sun before being packed in sacks.
During my stay in those ten days, there was no more important topic than dates and their conditions. Guests, passers-by and even the shopkeeper may ask you how much you have harvested? And how was the season? Is the date “Shail” or not? The "shail or sheel" is the degree to which the branch is filled with dates. And if this year the palm tree it is not “Shayla” then everyone in their councils discusses why. It could be climate change, as my aunt Ruqayya said in one of the sessions, or the dam lake has increased humidity in the area. In any case, dates were the master of subjects. Its fame was never threatened except once because of a notorious cat that stole fish from one of our neighbors and took over our kitchen several times.
On our second day of work, the house turned into a wedding house, where the women of the neighborhood came to bake the wedding tea biscuits of one of their sons in our large oven, which runs on gas, not like the old stoves that run on "wagood" – that is, dry palm leaves – especially "kood", which is the wide part of the palm leafs or arjun that survived the process of turning them into toys, such as the old game called Tab or whips made for disciplining the same children. As is usually the custom of wedding houses, the house was filled with laughter, teasing and singing, in the outdoor kitchen women worked with a biscuit machine, and others came to chat in the veranda, and the holder of the occasion brought lunch trays from her home to feed the guests, just like dates, the owner of the matter is always the one who must feed everyone.
The delicious biscuit that was made for one of the Hilla weddings.
If you lean next to one of the reclining women in the veranda, you will find yourself looking at the traditional roof. Traditionally houses are roofed with what? Of course, palm trunks, where the trunk is cut longitudinally into quarters or sixths, each of which is called "falaga". It is the main construction on which the roof is built. Then the stem of the leaf is placed on top of it after it is de-leafed and tied together. Previously, green palm leaves were usually by the thousand stems, cut from the palm while cleaning it outside the harvest season so that the dates would not be damaged, but now, palm owners pay workers to cut the leaves. Fronds and mud are placed on top of the newspaper, and finally animal waste or manure, usually donkey residues. Before autumn, this process is repeated for the ceiling and walls before the walls are painted white, and the water drains are cleared, as stagnant water and moisture are the enemies of mud houses.
A traditional roof with an iron beams and wood veins
The season ended and the second stage came, which is the packaging and distribution of dates. “The packers " are skilled workers who sort dates quickly and pack them, where bad dates "karmosha" are thrown to animals and sheep. In the past, dates were stored in silos of different sizes, made of clay and raised from the ground, called Al-Qasiba or Al-Qusaiba , also used to store crops such as wheat, and Al-Qasasib is still used in some villages in the north. In our region, dates are placed in tight sacks, raised above tree trunks or iron beams away from water and insects, and covered with plastic cover from above.
Dates are raised on stones or wood to protect them from damage and insects.
Clay silos (Qasiba) for the preservation of dates and grains are still used in some villages in the Far North.
"AlMusharf dates, which it’s protective walls were raised
The one which before it ripens the “sababa” middle men showed up
The happy on in the world takes the fate of his days
And on you Oh God I don't know what comes ahead
(old Shayqi poet)
Dates have multiple traders, mostly sababa; they are middlemen who buy dates from small dealers and collectors, and sell dates to market traders. The street vendors buy dates to retail in the market. Large merchants store dates in large warehouses and sell them wholesale to other merchants in large cities such as El Obeid, El Fasher, Nyala, Madani, Damazin, Al Nuhud and others. In the past, dates were transported down the river by ships to Karima, from there by train to all these cities by rail, and in the White Nile from Kosti to the south by ships and through the many roads that connect Sudan to each other. Dates also have a large market in eastern Sudan, where they are eaten with coffee. Dates are delivered to Port Sudan by trains and sold by the "Malwa" in the market.
In the late fifties, during the government of General Abboud and with American aid, a date canning factory was established in Karima. The machinery arrived from California, and was assembled at the factory, the factory produced dates stuffed with walnuts, almonds and coconut, and packed in beautiful boxes. As part of the packaging process, dates are fumigated to wash, clean and tenderize them, to facilitate their filling and removal of the seed/stone, which was used as animal feed, and the factory also produces white spirit or alcohol as a by-product and is used in hospitals to disinfect wounds. The factory stopped operating for a long time, but returned to work seasonally due to local Sudanese efforts as the dates were harvested.
Karima’s Fruit and vegetable canning factory, which was established by the Russians in the early sixties of the last century.
I returned to Khartoum with a kaila of dates, it was not given to me as payment because I did not last more than a quarter of a day. It was harder than I imagined, but the little "sackl" was a gift from my aunts for at least trying.
North Road Bus Station
Photo of passengers
Barkal, North Sudan 2015
Zainab Osman Mahgoub and Dr. Osman Mahgoub Gaafar
On the banks of the Nile strip in northern Sudan, the landscape from a distance may look all the same, such as on Google Maps. Vast land showing gardens offsetting the curves of the Nile, and enclaved by villages tinted with a brown color. They may all look similar, but villages, tribes, traditions and even languages differ in these vast areas of Sudan, as there is a wonderful diversity on the ground.
Al-Barkal is one of those towns, with the same palm tree gardens inhabited by the people of "Balad Be Tihit" or lower lands, and surrounded by the town of "Be Fawq", who are residents of the highlands far from the Nile. One of the well-known landmarks of the region and the reason behind the name of the town is al-Barkal mountain, which is a rock platform rising to four meters and a hundred, and on its side protrudes a rock resembling a minaret, which was previously carved. "Al-Shurayma", or “the crooked tooth” as the most famous Shayqiya poet Hassouna called it expressing his disappointment in one of the great Barkal leaders:
Mount Barkal, the one with a crooked tooth
It cannot mount to the mountain of Ibn Ouf in lower Hizaima
The temple of Amun, built by Baankhi and his son Taraqa (Tarhaqa), can be seen on the side of the mountain along with the continuously disapearing raw of rams. Some pyramids are scattered around the mountain, and the entire current town lies on the land of the capital of Kush during the reign of the Kingdom of Meroe.
View from Jebel Barkal with its side slit.
The pyramids of Barkal, which were burials of the kings of Nabta before the transfer of burials to Meroe (Bagrawiyah).
About two kilometers south of the mountain, on the main road, is the house of my grandfather Mahgoub Gaafar Mustafa, now inhabited and is run by my aunt Ruqayya. The house and my aunt are both important monuments as the ones mentioned above, at least for the following narrative. In the following text I will narrate the events of my visit to Barkal in 2015, to participate in the date harvest season, or as it is called "Hash Altamur". The text also contains interventions from my father, Dr. Osman Mahgoub Gaafar, for the purpose of maintaining the accuracy of the information, my experience that I formed in 10 Days is incomparable to his experience. The one who was raised in this house and grew up on these lands.
The house of my grandfather Hajj Mahgoub. Shown the front part or what is known as the Diwan or Saraya.
The main street in Barkal, which connects Meroe and Karima.
The date harvest season in the Barkal area begins in September or the month of "Nasea" as it is called in the old Egyptian Coptic months. This calendar is still used for the purpose of agriculture and harvesting in most regions of northern Sudan, where the months coincide with the emergence of clear weather changes or seasons. Dates in al-Barkal are dry dates, meaning that they are left to ripen and dry before harvesting, and therefore easy to preserve and store, making them more suitable for trade. Soft dates are dates harvested when they are still soft, kept in baskets stacked on top of each other, and left until they retain the moisture, which is not customary in northern Sudan. There are semi-soft dates in the areas of Rubatab and Jaaliyin in the Nile River state, from which Ajwa is made, such as the Mashreq, Wad Laqai and Wad Khatib.
Al-Barkal use to be safer in the past, but due to some recent harvest stealing incidents, there has become a tradition of guarding dates and setting a specific day to start harvesting to avoid thefts, as a specific day is set for the start of the entire harvest season, and there is a day for each sagyia or garden so that it is known that the owner of the sagyia is the one who is harvesting. In the year 2015 specifically, the eighteenth of September was the designated harvest day for our sagyia, owned by my grandfather's family. We went down early in the morning, me and my aunt Hafsa, may she rest in peace. She was the manager of the date business for the whole family and an excellent businesswoman. The “Qafaz” and his family came with us. The “Qafaz” is usually a partner to the owner of land, he cares for and harvest the dates, his name comes from the “Qafouza”, which is the process of pollinating dates, where the male palm - is planted in the female palm sapling, and this process takes place several months before the harvest season, that is, in winter, to contribute to the production of dates properly.
On our way to the lower lands, there was a row of young men, sitting on the ground on the main street, opposite the farms waiting for work, me and my two aunts, Hafsa and Aisha, may God have mercy on both of their souls, were not the only ones who had come in the days before the harvest season. We came from Khartoum, but this line of young men came from the vast deserts of northern Sudan, which are apparently not empty of inhabitants. In the harvest season, nomadic Arabs camp on the outskirts of the city. Men work in harvesting, and women work in small, scattered chores in homes, doing small magic tricks, or picking dates. The young man hired by my aunt from West Africa had come to northern Sudan to seek education in khalawi the Quranic schools found all around Sudan. He and his companions had come to work to collect a wage that would help him financially in the coming months. The harvest season is a blessed season, characterized by the abundance of wealth and happiness. People are temporarily enriched, which is always a reason for festivities. The time of our visit was no different, as our presence coincided with several weddings in the Hilla or neighborhood. Employees in the capital and other large cities and expatriates usually come on their annual vacations to visit during the harvest season. The joy of children on the other hand has two reasons, the first is that the harvest season is an official holiday from schools, so that they help their families in harvesting, and the second is that children have a wage for collecting dates, whether from their work with their family or from collecting the Haboob dates, which are the dates that fall on the ground from the impact of the strong wind, these dates are not of high quality, because they are heterogeneous, but children use this opportunity to increase their pile of dates in the corner of yard.
Dates of the Barkawi type after harvesting in a basket “guffa” made of Dom fronds, widely used as a container for dates, and other grains and crops.
The method of paying for the different types of characters participating in the harvest varies; the Qafaz, usually, takes his fare in the form of dates, as it has one or two branches “sabita” from each palm, depending on the agreement, and according to the height of the palm tree. The collectors prefer money, especially in recent years, and take their wages by the day, while children and young collectors are paid by a measured size they collect. They collect the dates that fall far away from the area around the palm until they complete a "kaila", a Kaila is a tin can equal to the amount of two quarters, and a quarter has two malwa, and the date sack is mostly the size of six kila, and all these are old measures of weights and size that are from an Islamic heritage. At the end of the season adults buy these kailat from the children.
Our small delegation arrived at the Sakgyia to start the process of harvesting dates. Agricultural plots in northern Sudan are divided into Sagiyas, and the sagiya is a piece of land equal to the area of what can be irrigated with a single watering machine also known as Saqyia, even after the old mill disappeared and was replaced by mechanical pump, the name remained as a measure until now. A sagiya is approximately equal to an area of twenty to thirty acres. An acre has twenty four carats, and a carat has twenty four “arrows”, and the sakia is divided by “ropes” and “bones”, which are length names, and the happiest is the owner of twenty-four carats of all kinds. The area is divided into a long strip of beds called Ingaya, and this strip is watered with a parallel water stream. The side of a single bed is usually in the range of five to six meters, and in the middle of each bed one palm tree is planted, sometimes two palm trees are placed in the corners.
A view from above of al-Barkal gardens
The mother palm tree is called "Omiya", and the small saplings called "daughters", they can be seen growing next to the tree. Three or four of them are usually left to keep the mother company, and the rest are replanted elsewhere. The palm tree is very similar to humans, it lives up to a hundred years, but does not stop growing, and after a while it becomes difficult to reach the top of the dates. Climbing the palm in al-Barkal area is done without using any auxiliary tools - such as a rope or ladder - but the bottom of trunk of the leafs known as "Al-Karoug" is left extruded when it is cut, and the harvester uses those parts to climb the tree, as the palm tree grows, these parts weakens and breaks causing the climbers to fall.
The Qafaz climbing the palm tree using on the Karouk.
A sabita or branch cut and thrown by the Qafaz on the floor over the linoleum.
After the Qafaz climbed the tree, the rest of the workers pulled a piece of tarpaulin underneath. The Qafaz first cut and lowered his branch, and then cut the rest of the branches for the owner of the land, then all the collectors– including me, I was promised a kila of dates if I helped collect the fallen dates – "scraped" the dates from the branch, that is, by hitting them on the ground until all the dates fell off, then remove the remaining dates by hand. Then the dates were collected in the middle of the linoleum and poured into the sacks. Although burlap sacks “shawal” look very local, they are in fact not; these sacks first appeared in the English colonial period, as they were and still are imported from India. The Kanaf factory in the Blue Nile that was built in the seventies of the last century tried to cover the market's need for sacks, but it stopped operating years ago. Now sacks are sometimes made from plastic in Sudan. The shawal is then sewn with “arjun” or iron wire and carried home.
Dates are cut from Arjun or Sabita.
Piling the dates
Sealing the sack using a wire
The full shawal was a sign that we can stop working to rest. The land was soon littered with the scattered bodies each finding shade to rest under. Lunch or brunch was sent from our house, as usual: Gurassa “wheat flat bread” and “waika” dried okra stew, followed by a nap. The cooks at home also have a wage at the end of the season, as no one works for free in the harvest season. We returned home at the end of the day, followed by a camel with sacks of dates that walked right into the house through the door, as was the case in the house of my great-grandfather, Mayor Gaafar, Wad Mustafa and Wad Muhammad, more than sixty years ago. The sacks were lowered into the yard, and then the dates were spread under the sun to dry completely.
Transporting date sacks using donkey carts.
Using camels to transport dates, and here is one entering the gate of Mahjoub Gaafar's Diwan.
People are usually afraid that the rain will fall suddenly and spoil the crop, because the harvest season is the rainy season or autumn, some are afraid to the point they ask the Shaiks to hold the rain. Next to our new pile was another pile for my other aunt Aisha, who had been brought before we arrived from another "driver" owned by the family of her husband, Muhammad al-Amin Sharif, may God have mercy on them. We found my aunt Aisha sitting proudly next to her high-quality Qandila dates, which are called “dates for eating”, such as tamuda and kalamah, which are dates produced in smaller quantities, and distributed in limited ranges, while our pile was from "Barkawi", which is a commercial date variety where it is produced in large quantities, and is exported in different parts of Sudan, while "Al-Jaw" is a lower quality date sold to those who do not care about the quality of dates.
The dates are piled up on the terrace of my grandfather’s yard, where they will be spread for days to dry in the sun before being packed in sacks.
During my stay in those ten days, there was no more important topic than dates and their conditions. Guests, passers-by and even the shopkeeper may ask you how much you have harvested? And how was the season? Is the date “Shail” or not? The "shail or sheel" is the degree to which the branch is filled with dates. And if this year the palm tree it is not “Shayla” then everyone in their councils discusses why. It could be climate change, as my aunt Ruqayya said in one of the sessions, or the dam lake has increased humidity in the area. In any case, dates were the master of subjects. Its fame was never threatened except once because of a notorious cat that stole fish from one of our neighbors and took over our kitchen several times.
On our second day of work, the house turned into a wedding house, where the women of the neighborhood came to bake the wedding tea biscuits of one of their sons in our large oven, which runs on gas, not like the old stoves that run on "wagood" – that is, dry palm leaves – especially "kood", which is the wide part of the palm leafs or arjun that survived the process of turning them into toys, such as the old game called Tab or whips made for disciplining the same children. As is usually the custom of wedding houses, the house was filled with laughter, teasing and singing, in the outdoor kitchen women worked with a biscuit machine, and others came to chat in the veranda, and the holder of the occasion brought lunch trays from her home to feed the guests, just like dates, the owner of the matter is always the one who must feed everyone.
The delicious biscuit that was made for one of the Hilla weddings.
If you lean next to one of the reclining women in the veranda, you will find yourself looking at the traditional roof. Traditionally houses are roofed with what? Of course, palm trunks, where the trunk is cut longitudinally into quarters or sixths, each of which is called "falaga". It is the main construction on which the roof is built. Then the stem of the leaf is placed on top of it after it is de-leafed and tied together. Previously, green palm leaves were usually by the thousand stems, cut from the palm while cleaning it outside the harvest season so that the dates would not be damaged, but now, palm owners pay workers to cut the leaves. Fronds and mud are placed on top of the newspaper, and finally animal waste or manure, usually donkey residues. Before autumn, this process is repeated for the ceiling and walls before the walls are painted white, and the water drains are cleared, as stagnant water and moisture are the enemies of mud houses.
A traditional roof with an iron beams and wood veins
The season ended and the second stage came, which is the packaging and distribution of dates. “The packers " are skilled workers who sort dates quickly and pack them, where bad dates "karmosha" are thrown to animals and sheep. In the past, dates were stored in silos of different sizes, made of clay and raised from the ground, called Al-Qasiba or Al-Qusaiba , also used to store crops such as wheat, and Al-Qasasib is still used in some villages in the north. In our region, dates are placed in tight sacks, raised above tree trunks or iron beams away from water and insects, and covered with plastic cover from above.
Dates are raised on stones or wood to protect them from damage and insects.
Clay silos (Qasiba) for the preservation of dates and grains are still used in some villages in the Far North.
"AlMusharf dates, which it’s protective walls were raised
The one which before it ripens the “sababa” middle men showed up
The happy on in the world takes the fate of his days
And on you Oh God I don't know what comes ahead
(old Shayqi poet)
Dates have multiple traders, mostly sababa; they are middlemen who buy dates from small dealers and collectors, and sell dates to market traders. The street vendors buy dates to retail in the market. Large merchants store dates in large warehouses and sell them wholesale to other merchants in large cities such as El Obeid, El Fasher, Nyala, Madani, Damazin, Al Nuhud and others. In the past, dates were transported down the river by ships to Karima, from there by train to all these cities by rail, and in the White Nile from Kosti to the south by ships and through the many roads that connect Sudan to each other. Dates also have a large market in eastern Sudan, where they are eaten with coffee. Dates are delivered to Port Sudan by trains and sold by the "Malwa" in the market.
In the late fifties, during the government of General Abboud and with American aid, a date canning factory was established in Karima. The machinery arrived from California, and was assembled at the factory, the factory produced dates stuffed with walnuts, almonds and coconut, and packed in beautiful boxes. As part of the packaging process, dates are fumigated to wash, clean and tenderize them, to facilitate their filling and removal of the seed/stone, which was used as animal feed, and the factory also produces white spirit or alcohol as a by-product and is used in hospitals to disinfect wounds. The factory stopped operating for a long time, but returned to work seasonally due to local Sudanese efforts as the dates were harvested.
Karima’s Fruit and vegetable canning factory, which was established by the Russians in the early sixties of the last century.
I returned to Khartoum with a kaila of dates, it was not given to me as payment because I did not last more than a quarter of a day. It was harder than I imagined, but the little "sackl" was a gift from my aunts for at least trying.
North Road Bus Station
Photo of passengers
Harvest season playlist
Harvest season playlist
This playlist contains a combination of traditional harvest songs, music and dances as well as a group of new songs celebrating sudanese produce and harvest.
Harvest music has always been an influence to modern music and songs and the beats of the harvesting a tune for many new music style such as Zanig and Rap.
Header picture © A woman using a local threshing tool called ‘ab rasen’ to separate the grains from the chaff after the harvest. Mohammed Osman, Gezira
This playlist contains a combination of traditional harvest songs, music and dances as well as a group of new songs celebrating sudanese produce and harvest.
Harvest music has always been an influence to modern music and songs and the beats of the harvesting a tune for many new music style such as Zanig and Rap.
Header picture © A woman using a local threshing tool called ‘ab rasen’ to separate the grains from the chaff after the harvest. Mohammed Osman, Gezira
This playlist contains a combination of traditional harvest songs, music and dances as well as a group of new songs celebrating sudanese produce and harvest.
Harvest music has always been an influence to modern music and songs and the beats of the harvesting a tune for many new music style such as Zanig and Rap.
Header picture © A woman using a local threshing tool called ‘ab rasen’ to separate the grains from the chaff after the harvest. Mohammed Osman, Gezira
It’s a rainy day
It’s a rainy day
Cultures determine which foods we crave; in colder countries this could be for comfort foods that are high in energy to warm up the body whereas in hot countries like Sudan, cravings are often associated with foods that cool us down, a cold lime juice or homemade popsicles. In Sudan, and as temperatures drop, during the winter months or at the beginning of the rainy season, people have different cravings. They may choose to spend time outside, eating grilled meats such as agashay and shaya, or fish cooked in different ways like fried or grilled bulti or ijil and sometimes salted fish known as faseekh. A simple milky tea with ligaymat donuts is also a popular choice in the cooler weather. The way people describe the objects of their cravings is indicative of how keen they are; “hot fried fish with fresh rocket and white onions, and an ice cold bottle of fizzy pop” is listed longingly. Whatever the favorite dish, what people enjoy the most is spending time together enjoying the weather and the delicious food.
Cultures determine which foods we crave; in colder countries this could be for comfort foods that are high in energy to warm up the body whereas in hot countries like Sudan, cravings are often associated with foods that cool us down, a cold lime juice or homemade popsicles. In Sudan, and as temperatures drop, during the winter months or at the beginning of the rainy season, people have different cravings. They may choose to spend time outside, eating grilled meats such as agashay and shaya, or fish cooked in different ways like fried or grilled bulti or ijil and sometimes salted fish known as faseekh. A simple milky tea with ligaymat donuts is also a popular choice in the cooler weather. The way people describe the objects of their cravings is indicative of how keen they are; “hot fried fish with fresh rocket and white onions, and an ice cold bottle of fizzy pop” is listed longingly. Whatever the favorite dish, what people enjoy the most is spending time together enjoying the weather and the delicious food.
Cultures determine which foods we crave; in colder countries this could be for comfort foods that are high in energy to warm up the body whereas in hot countries like Sudan, cravings are often associated with foods that cool us down, a cold lime juice or homemade popsicles. In Sudan, and as temperatures drop, during the winter months or at the beginning of the rainy season, people have different cravings. They may choose to spend time outside, eating grilled meats such as agashay and shaya, or fish cooked in different ways like fried or grilled bulti or ijil and sometimes salted fish known as faseekh. A simple milky tea with ligaymat donuts is also a popular choice in the cooler weather. The way people describe the objects of their cravings is indicative of how keen they are; “hot fried fish with fresh rocket and white onions, and an ice cold bottle of fizzy pop” is listed longingly. Whatever the favorite dish, what people enjoy the most is spending time together enjoying the weather and the delicious food.
The cheese of Kazgil
The cheese of Kazgil
The Kazgil region is known for its cheese making and the history of Kazgil cheese dates back to the late 1920s a time when a large number of nomadic tribes, who were able to supply large quantities of milk, came through the area that has an extensive forest and vast agricultural lands. At the beginning, a cheese making school was established in Al-Obaid, and the people of Kazgil were invited to learn the skills required to make various cheeses and were awarded certificates for their efforts. After independence a large and successful development programme was implemented that helped increase the activity of the cheese industry in the area until it became a ‘cheese centre’ and earned a reputation for good quality cheese. Relations between the nomads and local farmers were strengthened and the volume of nomads passing through increased, particularly now that they could earn good money for their milk.
Braided cheese is one of the most famous types of cheeses produced in the area and is a cooked type of cheese similar to mozzarella. After adding rennet, an enzyme that used to be extracted from calf intestines and is now made chemically, the curd is separated from the water and cooked in boiling water. Unlike mozzarella which is shaped into balls, braided cheese is stretched into long strips and salt and nigella seeds are added to the mixture. The difference between cooked and uncooked cheeses, such as white, or feta cheese, is that after the curd separates, the cheese is boiled in salted water for a short period of time and a large amount of salt is added to it to preserve it instead of cooking it. In this way the cheese loses its melting property when cooked. This video was filmed as part of the Heritage Survey and Documentation Project in Kordofan that was conducted in 2021.
The Kazgil region is known for its cheese making and the history of Kazgil cheese dates back to the late 1920s a time when a large number of nomadic tribes, who were able to supply large quantities of milk, came through the area that has an extensive forest and vast agricultural lands. At the beginning, a cheese making school was established in Al-Obaid, and the people of Kazgil were invited to learn the skills required to make various cheeses and were awarded certificates for their efforts. After independence a large and successful development programme was implemented that helped increase the activity of the cheese industry in the area until it became a ‘cheese centre’ and earned a reputation for good quality cheese. Relations between the nomads and local farmers were strengthened and the volume of nomads passing through increased, particularly now that they could earn good money for their milk.
Braided cheese is one of the most famous types of cheeses produced in the area and is a cooked type of cheese similar to mozzarella. After adding rennet, an enzyme that used to be extracted from calf intestines and is now made chemically, the curd is separated from the water and cooked in boiling water. Unlike mozzarella which is shaped into balls, braided cheese is stretched into long strips and salt and nigella seeds are added to the mixture. The difference between cooked and uncooked cheeses, such as white, or feta cheese, is that after the curd separates, the cheese is boiled in salted water for a short period of time and a large amount of salt is added to it to preserve it instead of cooking it. In this way the cheese loses its melting property when cooked. This video was filmed as part of the Heritage Survey and Documentation Project in Kordofan that was conducted in 2021.
The Kazgil region is known for its cheese making and the history of Kazgil cheese dates back to the late 1920s a time when a large number of nomadic tribes, who were able to supply large quantities of milk, came through the area that has an extensive forest and vast agricultural lands. At the beginning, a cheese making school was established in Al-Obaid, and the people of Kazgil were invited to learn the skills required to make various cheeses and were awarded certificates for their efforts. After independence a large and successful development programme was implemented that helped increase the activity of the cheese industry in the area until it became a ‘cheese centre’ and earned a reputation for good quality cheese. Relations between the nomads and local farmers were strengthened and the volume of nomads passing through increased, particularly now that they could earn good money for their milk.
Braided cheese is one of the most famous types of cheeses produced in the area and is a cooked type of cheese similar to mozzarella. After adding rennet, an enzyme that used to be extracted from calf intestines and is now made chemically, the curd is separated from the water and cooked in boiling water. Unlike mozzarella which is shaped into balls, braided cheese is stretched into long strips and salt and nigella seeds are added to the mixture. The difference between cooked and uncooked cheeses, such as white, or feta cheese, is that after the curd separates, the cheese is boiled in salted water for a short period of time and a large amount of salt is added to it to preserve it instead of cooking it. In this way the cheese loses its melting property when cooked. This video was filmed as part of the Heritage Survey and Documentation Project in Kordofan that was conducted in 2021.
Street Food
Street Food
The street food experience is a unique one and offers a huge range of options and menu choices. The most apparent form of street food is that which is sold by the women known as tea ladies who mainly serve hot beverages such as tea, coffee and karkade or hibiscus tea.
These settings are most popular among groups of friends and youth. Other types of food are light snacks such as tamia or falafel and baleela, a boiled grain, as well as desserts such as bakomba, made with another type of wheat grain. Other more substantial food, such as the traditional stew dishes, are served nearer to where manual and other forms of employees work or live such as by construction sites and in central parts of Khartoum. Many traditional restaurants serve food to their customers seated outside in the street rather than indoors.
“One pound for your juice of the lemons of Bara, that arrived by plane!”
Taking a walk through the central bus station in Khartoum you are likely to hear this call by the juice sellers with their plastic buckets brimming with sweet liquid and chunks of ice bobbing on the surface. Fresh juices and snacks are the most common types of street food on offer next to transport hubs. There are also children pushing wheelbarrows selling sticks of sugarcane and roasted corn on the cob, women with baskets on their heads selling dry fruits and nuts, as well as various mixtures of condiments made from tabaldi or baobab powder, men sitting on the side of road with the popular concoction of green marrow with hot sauce, and girls with portable cold boxes selling popsicles. When it is the season, temporary shops appear selling Moulid sweets.
Other street food stalls sell basta, kunafa and basbusa sweets similar to baklava while others, strategically positioned next to bakeries, sell tamia and eggs, ready to be stuffed into a freshly bought hot loaf. Eating these impromptu sandwiches as you wait for the rest of your tamia order is a common phenomenon! It is also common to see small neighbourhood corner shops with large gourds bubbling away on coal stoves outside cooking the most popular of all; ful or fava beans. Orders of ful are placed in containers you bring with you or in a couple of plastic bags if you forget to bring one. More recently fancy food trucks selling western-style foods like burgers and chips have become very popular. Finally, the most commonly known street food experience is market food which includes grilled meats at livestock markets, and various fish options at fish markets or water fronts.
The collection of images in this gallery, showing different experiences of street food around Sudan, were taken by Zainab Gaafar and Isam Hafiz.
Header picture © Isam Hafiz.
The street food experience is a unique one and offers a huge range of options and menu choices. The most apparent form of street food is that which is sold by the women known as tea ladies who mainly serve hot beverages such as tea, coffee and karkade or hibiscus tea.
These settings are most popular among groups of friends and youth. Other types of food are light snacks such as tamia or falafel and baleela, a boiled grain, as well as desserts such as bakomba, made with another type of wheat grain. Other more substantial food, such as the traditional stew dishes, are served nearer to where manual and other forms of employees work or live such as by construction sites and in central parts of Khartoum. Many traditional restaurants serve food to their customers seated outside in the street rather than indoors.
“One pound for your juice of the lemons of Bara, that arrived by plane!”
Taking a walk through the central bus station in Khartoum you are likely to hear this call by the juice sellers with their plastic buckets brimming with sweet liquid and chunks of ice bobbing on the surface. Fresh juices and snacks are the most common types of street food on offer next to transport hubs. There are also children pushing wheelbarrows selling sticks of sugarcane and roasted corn on the cob, women with baskets on their heads selling dry fruits and nuts, as well as various mixtures of condiments made from tabaldi or baobab powder, men sitting on the side of road with the popular concoction of green marrow with hot sauce, and girls with portable cold boxes selling popsicles. When it is the season, temporary shops appear selling Moulid sweets.
Other street food stalls sell basta, kunafa and basbusa sweets similar to baklava while others, strategically positioned next to bakeries, sell tamia and eggs, ready to be stuffed into a freshly bought hot loaf. Eating these impromptu sandwiches as you wait for the rest of your tamia order is a common phenomenon! It is also common to see small neighbourhood corner shops with large gourds bubbling away on coal stoves outside cooking the most popular of all; ful or fava beans. Orders of ful are placed in containers you bring with you or in a couple of plastic bags if you forget to bring one. More recently fancy food trucks selling western-style foods like burgers and chips have become very popular. Finally, the most commonly known street food experience is market food which includes grilled meats at livestock markets, and various fish options at fish markets or water fronts.
The collection of images in this gallery, showing different experiences of street food around Sudan, were taken by Zainab Gaafar and Isam Hafiz.
Header picture © Isam Hafiz.
The street food experience is a unique one and offers a huge range of options and menu choices. The most apparent form of street food is that which is sold by the women known as tea ladies who mainly serve hot beverages such as tea, coffee and karkade or hibiscus tea.
These settings are most popular among groups of friends and youth. Other types of food are light snacks such as tamia or falafel and baleela, a boiled grain, as well as desserts such as bakomba, made with another type of wheat grain. Other more substantial food, such as the traditional stew dishes, are served nearer to where manual and other forms of employees work or live such as by construction sites and in central parts of Khartoum. Many traditional restaurants serve food to their customers seated outside in the street rather than indoors.
“One pound for your juice of the lemons of Bara, that arrived by plane!”
Taking a walk through the central bus station in Khartoum you are likely to hear this call by the juice sellers with their plastic buckets brimming with sweet liquid and chunks of ice bobbing on the surface. Fresh juices and snacks are the most common types of street food on offer next to transport hubs. There are also children pushing wheelbarrows selling sticks of sugarcane and roasted corn on the cob, women with baskets on their heads selling dry fruits and nuts, as well as various mixtures of condiments made from tabaldi or baobab powder, men sitting on the side of road with the popular concoction of green marrow with hot sauce, and girls with portable cold boxes selling popsicles. When it is the season, temporary shops appear selling Moulid sweets.
Other street food stalls sell basta, kunafa and basbusa sweets similar to baklava while others, strategically positioned next to bakeries, sell tamia and eggs, ready to be stuffed into a freshly bought hot loaf. Eating these impromptu sandwiches as you wait for the rest of your tamia order is a common phenomenon! It is also common to see small neighbourhood corner shops with large gourds bubbling away on coal stoves outside cooking the most popular of all; ful or fava beans. Orders of ful are placed in containers you bring with you or in a couple of plastic bags if you forget to bring one. More recently fancy food trucks selling western-style foods like burgers and chips have become very popular. Finally, the most commonly known street food experience is market food which includes grilled meats at livestock markets, and various fish options at fish markets or water fronts.
The collection of images in this gallery, showing different experiences of street food around Sudan, were taken by Zainab Gaafar and Isam Hafiz.
Header picture © Isam Hafiz.
Taste of home
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Taste of home
What food brings back memories of home?
I asked ten Sudanese people to list the food items they used to take with them when they were travelling somewhere such as to another city or abroad.
The question took people back to different periods of their lives and invoked interesting memories. One was about the metal suitcase which many Sudanese have in their homes, stashed away under beds or in dusty store rooms containing everything from old photographs and papers to china dinner sets. The metal box for some was associated with their experience of starting their military service and living in a dorm with many other young men enrolled on the mandatory training. Memories of this particular metal suitcase were of it being tied firmly to the top of a rickety old bus, with all the other luggage, on the way to the camp. It was filled with every possible form of sweet food making it, as one person said, a ‘tahniya box.’ Tahniya or Halva, is a thick paste mainly of sugar and sesame oil which is often used as a sandwich filler.
The cardboard Ramadan food box is well-known to everyone inside and outside Sudan. Every year before Ramadan we would receive fresh produce from farms outside Khartoum brought by family members who were visiting. Distant aunts sent us their signature hilu-mur, dried sheets of fermented sorghum that are soaked to create the popular ‘sweet and sour’ drink, rugag or ‘Sudanese cornflakes’ and gargosh rusks. Other Ramadan boxes people remembered contained ground dried meat, sharmoot, or dried onions which even though you could get these in most places they never tasted the same as the ones sent from home!
People’s answers to what they took on their travels and what reminded them of home were very personal and varied from one person to another; what they loved and what they couldn’t find in the places they were going to. One person explained how her brother loved biscuits and so her mother would pack every type of biscuit into his bag. Another said her mother made her special coffee blends with local flavours while another said she brought frozen minced meat with her because she hadn’t been able to find a butcher who could supply anything that tasted the same. Royal biscuits, the soft drink Pasigianos and powdered milk were some more of the things people admitted to taking with them. Sesame seed oil, local spices including dried, ground okra and of course braided cheese were all common items people took with them regularly.
The taste of home is something we all miss today and every now and then there will be some food we crave. We also miss how we used to enjoy meals together and all the memories associated with it but because of the war, it is very unlikely anybody will receive a box of food from home and will have to make do with local alternatives.
What food brings back memories of home?
I asked ten Sudanese people to list the food items they used to take with them when they were travelling somewhere such as to another city or abroad.
The question took people back to different periods of their lives and invoked interesting memories. One was about the metal suitcase which many Sudanese have in their homes, stashed away under beds or in dusty store rooms containing everything from old photographs and papers to china dinner sets. The metal box for some was associated with their experience of starting their military service and living in a dorm with many other young men enrolled on the mandatory training. Memories of this particular metal suitcase were of it being tied firmly to the top of a rickety old bus, with all the other luggage, on the way to the camp. It was filled with every possible form of sweet food making it, as one person said, a ‘tahniya box.’ Tahniya or Halva, is a thick paste mainly of sugar and sesame oil which is often used as a sandwich filler.
The cardboard Ramadan food box is well-known to everyone inside and outside Sudan. Every year before Ramadan we would receive fresh produce from farms outside Khartoum brought by family members who were visiting. Distant aunts sent us their signature hilu-mur, dried sheets of fermented sorghum that are soaked to create the popular ‘sweet and sour’ drink, rugag or ‘Sudanese cornflakes’ and gargosh rusks. Other Ramadan boxes people remembered contained ground dried meat, sharmoot, or dried onions which even though you could get these in most places they never tasted the same as the ones sent from home!
People’s answers to what they took on their travels and what reminded them of home were very personal and varied from one person to another; what they loved and what they couldn’t find in the places they were going to. One person explained how her brother loved biscuits and so her mother would pack every type of biscuit into his bag. Another said her mother made her special coffee blends with local flavours while another said she brought frozen minced meat with her because she hadn’t been able to find a butcher who could supply anything that tasted the same. Royal biscuits, the soft drink Pasigianos and powdered milk were some more of the things people admitted to taking with them. Sesame seed oil, local spices including dried, ground okra and of course braided cheese were all common items people took with them regularly.
The taste of home is something we all miss today and every now and then there will be some food we crave. We also miss how we used to enjoy meals together and all the memories associated with it but because of the war, it is very unlikely anybody will receive a box of food from home and will have to make do with local alternatives.
What food brings back memories of home?
I asked ten Sudanese people to list the food items they used to take with them when they were travelling somewhere such as to another city or abroad.
The question took people back to different periods of their lives and invoked interesting memories. One was about the metal suitcase which many Sudanese have in their homes, stashed away under beds or in dusty store rooms containing everything from old photographs and papers to china dinner sets. The metal box for some was associated with their experience of starting their military service and living in a dorm with many other young men enrolled on the mandatory training. Memories of this particular metal suitcase were of it being tied firmly to the top of a rickety old bus, with all the other luggage, on the way to the camp. It was filled with every possible form of sweet food making it, as one person said, a ‘tahniya box.’ Tahniya or Halva, is a thick paste mainly of sugar and sesame oil which is often used as a sandwich filler.
The cardboard Ramadan food box is well-known to everyone inside and outside Sudan. Every year before Ramadan we would receive fresh produce from farms outside Khartoum brought by family members who were visiting. Distant aunts sent us their signature hilu-mur, dried sheets of fermented sorghum that are soaked to create the popular ‘sweet and sour’ drink, rugag or ‘Sudanese cornflakes’ and gargosh rusks. Other Ramadan boxes people remembered contained ground dried meat, sharmoot, or dried onions which even though you could get these in most places they never tasted the same as the ones sent from home!
People’s answers to what they took on their travels and what reminded them of home were very personal and varied from one person to another; what they loved and what they couldn’t find in the places they were going to. One person explained how her brother loved biscuits and so her mother would pack every type of biscuit into his bag. Another said her mother made her special coffee blends with local flavours while another said she brought frozen minced meat with her because she hadn’t been able to find a butcher who could supply anything that tasted the same. Royal biscuits, the soft drink Pasigianos and powdered milk were some more of the things people admitted to taking with them. Sesame seed oil, local spices including dried, ground okra and of course braided cheese were all common items people took with them regularly.
The taste of home is something we all miss today and every now and then there will be some food we crave. We also miss how we used to enjoy meals together and all the memories associated with it but because of the war, it is very unlikely anybody will receive a box of food from home and will have to make do with local alternatives.