العبار بريمة بلل، هل أنت أستعنت بمعلومات في كتابك الأخير دون الإشارة للمصدر؟

Quote: 5 SEASONALITY OF BAGGARA LIVELIHOOD GENERAL BACKGROUND: As in the case of early Greek civilizations, Baggara mostly views time as cyclic based on seasons of the year. It is enough to guess what Baggara livelihood looks like by only knowing the exact season of the year. Along the contours of seasons and environmental and ecological conditions, Baggara socioeconomic, social life, and livelihood follow repeatable seasonal patterns - season after season and year after year, Baggara follow a predicable lifestyle. The most clear and visible seasonality of their socioeconomic and livelihood occurs in two seasons: summer and rainy season. BAGGARA LIVELIHOOD DURING SUMMER: Summer is always a rough season for Baggara people. Summer, in savannah region of Africa, is always gruesome season. In March, summer is in full swing and soon it reaches its peak early in May. It is a dazzlingly hot weather – temperature in a range of 40 °C (104 °F) is normal and can reach up to 45 °C (113 °F). During the summer season, Africa is as if set ablaze. Nature can curse every living being; it demands nothing less than complete surrender to its heat power. From dawn to dusk, the sun has absolute dominance over human activities, nature scenes, weather changes and undoubtedly a driving force for actions and interactions of organisms and matters. Yet the sun at savannah region has a majestically fascinating glory: when it rises in crystal-clear ball or when it fades away in azure and golden colors. Sound of early dawn prayers’ reciting, birds’ singing, Baggara herders hushing their animals to grazing ranges, and water-fetchers’ utensils noise are just few ensembles of early dawn in savannah remoteness. Similarly, at dusk, sound of cattle or sheep chaotically mooing to their calves and kids, nogara drums trumpeted to bring in stray animals or to bring lost cowboys and shepherds home, are the essence of Baggara life in Sub-Saharan zone. In a midsummer day, Baggara tend to limit their activities. The sun heat is a menace. The whole Africa continent turns into a vast glowing furnace - raging with heat and dust storms. Animals - such as goats, sheep and cows tightly pack under shade trees and are only able to graze either early morning or late evening. Lizards could run as fast as possible from their hiding places to climb nearby barely shaded trees. Creepers – such as chameleons, hedgehogs and turtles impatiently navigate their way as quickly as possible to nearby potholes. Crickets chirp loudly and feverishly from suffocating heat. Bees buzz continuously in their honey-wells to create a breeze for their queens and themselves. Nothing could sit on the rest except hibernating frogs, fish and reptiles; these animals bury themselves deep in clay soil before summer or encase themselves in cocoons to protect them from heat. Trees stand #####ly off their leaves; they had shed them off long time before summer toll and had taken their necessary protection – encasing themselves in thick wax layer to reduce their transpiration. Wind barely blows to create a breeze. Nothing could move around, they all stand still to lower their body temperature. Summer is an eco-eclipse in Africa. Is it the hellish hell on earth! Surely, it is a nature curse! Sweat pours from human bodies from top to toes. The weather has extremely low humidity, while unusually high temperature. Yet, Baggara are well adapted to such Africa summer harshness; they use animals and insects sound to retreat to shade or to go about their normal life. When crickets chirp feverishly, Baggara order their kids to stay under shade trees. Baggara during summer, dig up wells to water their animals; also, they incline to eat less greasy foods and tend not to sell their animals at this time of the year, where animals are crumbling and weak. Nothing resembles summer season in Africa in harshness; probably, except winter in northern North America, where trees shed off their leaves, bears enter in hibernation, Appalachian storms throw powdery snow dust or hurricane overwhelms regions with snowstorms: roads clotted in large snow piles and people cloaked in heavy winter clothing. As early dawn in Africa, sound of snow scrappers shoveling, roaring of salt-and-sand dispensers cleaning roads, whistling of wind on windows or echoing on mountains’ tops are some ensembles of North America’s winter weather calamities. Notwithstanding the differing feelings of heat in Africa or cold in North America, there is a common suffering of living organisms and common dimensions of human survival. It is not different for an Eskimo’s child, who is shivering from freezing than a Baggara’s child, who is sweating from top to toes from scorching sun heat in Savannah region. Similarly, it is not differing for foxtail grasses in savannah region of African and those in America’s Prairie brazing for a rough weather; and it is not that differ for hibernating frogs in savannah region of Africa during the summer and a hibernating bear in Antarctica during winter. All pushed by weather inclement to the limit of their physiological incapacities. Savannah region of sub-Saharan Africa remains a harsh, rough and unbearable hot in terms of weather conditions. Baggara, however, remarkably endured and prevailed in Africa. During summer times, Baggara reach their most southern ranges; men engage in watering their animals, while women fetch water from far places in plastic jars carrying them a top their head for domestic home use. All work in daunting heat without any air-conditioning. Apart from heat, summer in savannah of African has some picturesque silent beauty. Noticeable are changing landscapes and edaphic features. As winter in the West has its own sceneries, summer in Africa has its own unique sceneries, such as an ever-stretching span of flat terrains matted with dry and loosely strolling, termites-uprooted, yellowish grasses. Similarly, there are network of valleys covered with dense leaves-less skeletal vegetation. Clusters of mountains with varying stones’ colors, shapes, and sizes appear far in sight as a background of panoramic view of rearing cows’ herds. Knee-deep cracking clay in dry basins makes a reticulate of cracks as if an artwork; undulating creeks radiate from high mountainous land a waiting rainy season to carry water and silt to fertilize a sun-scorched low land, and the magnificent splendor of the sun rising and setting. All are beautiful sceneries noticed by Baggara people. Such summer landscapes require special taste for landscape to recognize their beautiful sceneries. Lunar days are the best days in Baggara life during summer times. Among the unique scenes of summer in Savannah region of Africa, is the lunar days. With clear sky and nothing to obstruct ones sight, the moon and stars appear crystal clear as the sun does. Constellations can easily be identified with the ##### eye. Baggara youngsters gather during lunar days in open places during nighttime to chat or to dance – their singing, clapping and hard beating of ground with their feet could be heard from far a distance. Such night dance and chatting are well known as lunar days – locally called by Baggara as layali el sammar. Caravan travelers during lunar days enjoy their rides while being able to see almost as far as during daylight. Baggara grandmothers gather their grandsons to tell them axioms, puzzles, anecdotes, mythical stories, and linguistic art of mastering difficult and confusing tonque’s twister words such as “Sheikhi salakh sag sheikh el sheikh” – which means: “my sheikh has slashed the leg of a sheikh who is a sheikh of someone called El Sheikh”. Quickly repeating such tonque twisters words for many times can easily identify a dyslexic boy. Baggara’s grandmothers are valued puzzlers; they use puzzles to sharpen their grandsons’ mental capacities – such as asking a question: “something hitting a grass without making a noise, what is it؟” the answer is – light. The grandmother goes on repeating the same question: “something hitting a grass without making a noise, what is it؟” The answer is – shade; the grandmother can go on until the kids exhaust all possibilities; possible answers can be night, day, smoke, smell, sound, etc. In his excellent accounts of Baggara axioms and sayings, Mohyeldin Khail Elrayah (2003) said, “Baggara puzzles are oxymoron”- a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction. In the example cited above, hitting should always produces a noise since it implies applying force, but Baggara puzzlers choose not. During lunar days, Baggara women gather to work their hairs – to braid, de-braid or conglomerate their perfumes. Baggara’s local perfumes made from crushed leaves, seeds, pots and wood from a range of aromatic plants - such as basil (Ocimum basilicum, Sudanese vernacular name; rehan) which is a common herb in Kordofan region of Sudan, mixed with animals’ fats, oils and manufactured perfumes. During lunar days, Baggara people visit each other from distantly separated villages. A completely busy and active lunar nightlife springs up during lunar days. Importance and beauty of lunar days attributed in part to lack of urban centers and electricity in savannah region where Baggara live. Across savannah belt, there are few urban populated areas; the rest sparsely dwelled by villagers and Baggara nomads whenever a water source is available – as water represents the single most valuable life support in summer of savannah region. Lunar days represent a heavenly relief to savannah regions inhabitants - as they spend their day in daunting heat and hardwork to maintain their livelihood; they can gather as getaway. Non-lunar summer nights in savannah region still have some benefits – almost all hunting during night times occurs during non-lunar days. As Baggara people in savannah lack electricity, light is of little value to them since they do not know its value or they rarely use it to beneficial use – apart from kindles at homes, light is only used in small cantons or village shops and even in case they use kerosenes. Baggara can walk long stretches of land during dark nights without any torches – though with their hands on their hearts not to step blindly on the most venomous Cobra sneaks. Darkness represents a get-away for unwelcomed activities, and it represents a shield to animals’ thieves, who find cover from human eyes. When summer approaches its end, Baggara at that time of the year, mostly they lack dairy products and they turn to eating less tasty food; their animals crumble due to lack of fodder and become of less economic worth. Baggara during this time become weak, skinny and sometimes boned. They sell less of their animals and tend to limit their expenditure, stop social life, reduce their buying power and turn to nature for survival. Summer has just hit the nerve of Baggara life. With trees shed off their leaves and time is over for fruit harvest or dairy products, Baggara turn to digging rhizomes, roots, underground stems and hunting of wild animals. At this time, crickets are feverishly chirping from heat; hibernating fish and frogs starting booing; morning birds artistically singing their early dawn songs. Without Baggara exact knowledge of what such phenomena mean, they, however, are sure of one thing that the rainy season is just few steps away to start. BAGGARA LIVELIHOOD DURING RUSHASH: After a long and dragging summer, signs of a new season called “Rushash” season (a pre-rainy-season) start to appear. A swirling hot air (and dust) springs up from nowhere, and keeps swirling for some distance and goes up high in the hot space vacuum. Baggara kids usually jump in the middle of the swirling dust and keep going. Old Baggara women and men think that it is satanic air; they recite some versus to fend it off. The swirling dust is a known phenomenon as hurricanes in the Americas, or tornadoes in the south East Asian islands. Because of high pressure and low air volume, an air vacuum created and quickly felled by cooler air. Variations in air pressure create the phenomenon of swirling dust. Baggara have their own explanation – it is satanic air. Early in Rushash, a period of turbulence air currents continues for some time. Then soon the south-to-north wind starts blowing replacing the north-to-south one, which is persist summer long. Patchy clouds appear at afternoon in spare formations then clouds density gradually intensifies day after day to build voluminous mountains of clouds in the sky. Trees break into noticeable green shoots of buds. Temperature drops during day time, though, it is exceptionally warm weather during night time - a high conviction heat bother everyone along savannah region; during this time, Baggara people sleep outside their domes in the yards. Although it is a short period, not more than one and half months, however, this short season is distinct from the summer and the following rainy season. It has it is own ecological and human dimensions that might warrant a separate name for such a season – Baggara called it breezy season (in Arabic terms Rushash). Rushash season has distinct characteristics – it is characterized by a sweet, #######ing blow of air breeze called duash. When it breezes, Baggara’s herds lift their ######### up and nose toward where the breeze blows. Every time such the breeze blows one could hear a sigh of relief and murmuring that the rainy season is close. Migratory birds fly during Rushash in large flocks; monkeys packs cross areas in a large number; and flocks of guinea fowls cackle day long. Along avannah region, farmers at this time of the year start cleaning their farms from crop remains of the previous season, burning stumps, uprooting trees to open new fields, buying or making new farming tools, repairing their huts, and collecting firewood and storing it for use in the rainy season. Villagers gear their effort for a new rough season of farming, mosquitoes bites, tsetse flies, mud, mosquitoes’ nets, sleeping early and waking up early, eating less tasty food and sometimes hunger. Baggara nomads, however, yearn for a new, hopeful season: the herding season where rains become steady and ready to migrate to their northern grazing ranges. Along such lines of human-ecological association, farmers are now moving toward a distressing, hard and laborious season – the farming season, while Baggara nomads aiming for their best season throughout their grazing year – the herding season. BAGGARA LIVELIHOOD DURING HERDING SEASON: Rainy season turns savannah region in a wilderness of greenery and lush vegetation. During rainy seasons in savannah region of Africa, rains could rain during a whole day or afternoon or night times; echoing thunder and lightings are usual rainy season chores. When it rains it pours, flash flood may sweep large plains. Baggara nomads quickly hush their animals and move miles away upland to their rainy season grazing areas - where vegetation and grasses are short. High savannah quickly becomes a jungle after rains start. Valleys, carry muddy water, may stop movement altogether to or from cities to villages. High savannah grasses grow on cut-and-fill roads; branches close the spaces between trees and climbing vegetation form a thick reticulate networks impeding movement. Mosquitoes, harmful flies and bugs breed in record numbers, and they can bother humans on broad daylight. High savannah no longer could be suitable for human habitation. Farmers, in high savannah, enter one of the roughest times in their year: they work day long uprooting grasses with their bared hands, eat little of nutritious food, sleep less due to flies and mosquitoes, walk knee-deep in mud, people drop their human remains near to their homes or on roads and they drop any other activities other than farming. Villages turn into filthy trash of human waste; smoke emits from every hut to fend of harmful flies, and there is nothing of any leisure time or even nowhere to go other than farms. About two and half months have to pass before farmers can see any light of hope of a new harvesting season starts to appear – if rains are abundant, then youngsters start to dance during lunar days. Yet farmers in high savannah region have their own way of alleviating the stress; they go in group farming - locally called naffir – chanting, singing, women cooking and men cleaning one of their member farmer’s farm. Such activity rotates among farmers on a weekly basis until the farming season is over – creating their own microcosm of seasonal activities. Usually, Baggara who lose their animals settle in villages and become part of village norms. They, however, resent the village life and yearn to go back to the nomadic life, but rarely they make it back to nomadism instead they continue to live their whole life on pleasant memories of their past nomadic life. Low savannah region inhabitants are far less distressed than high savannah region dwellers during the rainy season. In low savannah region, vegetation are short, trees are less closed, environmental conditions are favorable – sandy dunes with less mud and less harmful flies, bustling common marketplaces are open, buying and selling of animals and goods are steady, aromatic plants scent environment with fresh autumn breeze. However still a sense of farming season persists – farmers go to their farms on a daily basis to tend them or protect them from animals since nomads move north to low savannah region. Once rains become steady, Baggara nomads move far north to lowland vegetation areas, such as Northern Kordofan region of Sudan. There, in low savannah, nomads engage in selling milk products in local markets, selling their animals to traders, buy new cloth and house utensils, and a sense of relief encompass nomads ranges. Youth engages in wrestling matches, dance and marriage celebrations. By the time Baggara nomads reach their rainy grazing season, trees already blossom in colorful flowers, aromatic plants and basils (Ocimum Basilicum L, locally called rihan) and toothbrush tree (Salvadora persica, local name arak) infuse the environment with a pleasant autumn scent. Lilies (Nymphaea spp, local name: sitaib) grow beautiful white flowers and lush green leaves in water pools, and sandpipers and other wading birds waddle with their checks alongside sandy watercourses. Baggara nomads enjoy their herding season and livelihood: horns sound be heard from miles away alerting to the presence of a superstar wrestler, nogara drum dancing is usual scene, wrestling matches organized across the spectrum of Baggara nomad’s camps and, cowboys enjoy decorating their bulls for bull fight. A new relaxing and engaging spirit flourishes on all Baggara camps. Yet, looking back to their kin Baggara farmers in high savannah zones, they still muddied deeply in their hardships – and their hardships aggravate as the rainy season progresses until harvesting season. For Baggara people, hardships and suffering of villages during the rainy season make them feel proud of their nomadic movement and give them an air of superiority of way of their life. Rainy season turns low savannah in one of the most beautiful and picturesque scenery in Africa. Baggara have beautiful poems and sayings praising their way of life and rainy season such as: “Which is better: is it a sound of a young calf among flowering acacia trees or sound of donkey inside a village quarter”. For Baggara, it is no brainer that flowering plants are beautiful than a village quarter, and so it does a sound of a calf among the flowering plant than a donkey sound in the village – Baggara are passionate cattle herders. During the rainy season, Baggara go about their daily life with an air of pride. The gentle men always dress in their Arabian princes’ lofty costumes, others in their gladiator’s dress. Women carry varieties of silver and golden rings, nostrils, necklaces, sliver crowns and beautiful clothing and accessories. They enjoy admiring themselves with dense masker makeup, lips dying, hair braiding and styling - with a mixed cream of perfumes, herbs, sandalwood and others. The youth become more enthusiastic about festivities, dancing and socializing. During this time of the year, Baggara do nothing but rhetorical carnivals and festivities. Like Latin Americans during world models or Mexican carnivals, Baggara stay upbeat and fully immersed in festivities: dancing and wrestling. Baggara life cannot be any better than during the rainy season. It is an ultimate happiness fueled by relief from tumultuous summer and dragging movement to their rainy season grazing land. With such outpouring emotional ceremonies, Baggara, in essence, are relieving themselves from spillover of rough times and peeking ahead to another long dry summer or may just enjoying the occasion. Baggara's life is a life inseparable from the ecosystem in which it exists. Whether heaven throws to them rains or dust, their life shaped and fashioned accordingly. In the Baggara land, climate has the ultimate command in every sense of their life: their marriage, wedding, festivals, rituals, schooling, including their own existence. BAGGARA LIVELIHOOD DURING WINTER SEASON: When winter season begins, trees shed of their leaves, grasses wilt, seasonal water pools become muddy and eventually dry out, crops ripe for harvest; and nomads are ready to move gradually back across low savannah zone to high savannah areas, where there they pass their summer time. Winter across savannah region is the harvest season – people harvest their crops, enjoy seasonal festivities, fresh crops, cheap prices and most of all high savannah opens up, where people can visit cities and marketplaces. A new rebirth of life injected into the body of savannah land. Villagers start their usual harvest dance and rituals. Fresh maize and groundnuts are barbequed on open places. Villagers and nomads burn tall savannah grasses early in winter season. Buring leads to opening up of spaces around villages and allowing for new growth of new shoots. The new re-growth of grasses called harig grasses, which are succulent grasses. During winter movement to their summer grazing areas, Baggara endure daunting activities: they have to move their animals for long distance to find water-places; they endure hot and humid winter weather; they have to break up tall grasses and open up seasonal migration routes and they have to survive lot of issues related to cattle breaking into farmers’ crops. Winter in savannah region is another unique season. Nature scenes dominated by yellowish leaves, sand dust and, windy, cold weather. Seasonality of environmental and ecological conditions has led to seasonality of Baggara life and activities – marriages, festivities, harvesting rituals, schooling, herding, and even hunting are seasonal activities.