A big beer-work party (Fur: “Bambani”) arranged by a man to honour his mother in law (Fur: “iya mare”, Arabic: “naseeba”) by inviting a large group of people and providing them with ample amounts of beer (Fur: “kira”) and entertainment for those who participate in the work. One man is blowing on a kudu horn while another one is drumming.
Western foothills of Jebel Marra. Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A big beer-work party (Fur: “Bambani”) arranged by a man to honour his mother in law (Fur: “iya mare”, Arabic: “naseeba”) by inviting a large group of people and providing them with ample amounts of beer and entertainment for the participants in the work party.
Western foothills of Jebel Marra.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Entertainment by musicians, like this man blowing on a kudu horn at a big beer-work party (Fur : “Bambani”) is an important element expressing the “party” aspect of a “work-party”.
Western foothills of Jebel Marra.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Two women winnowing millet (Fur: “sona”, Arabic: “dukhn”). Note the terraces for rainy-season cultivation in the background. Terraces in the Jebel Marra region are mainly used as a technique of soil conservation, and they are only to a very small extent used for dry-season irrigated cultivation.
Umu village, Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A Fur woman grinding sorghum (Fur: “marga”, Arabic: “durra”) on a well-used grinder (Fur: “dida”- lower grinder, “manang” – upper grinder). Millet products are of special symbolic importance in Fur society. Millet flour mixed with water is in Fur language called “bora fatta” (meaning “milk white” – mother’s milk) and is used as a blessing on several ritual occasions (e.g. circumcision, rain rituals, war rituals, treatment of diseases, weddings).
Sarar village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
Fur women making porridge (Fur “nung”, Arabic “asida”). Millet products like porridge and beer constitute the staple food among the Fur. They are products that belonged to the domestic sphere and should not be transacted in the market. Subjecting them to sale in the market was categorized as shame (Fur: “ora”) like selling sex.
Kebe village, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Men drinking beer (Fur: “kira”) during a break in communal house building. Beer is a product that the wife makes for her husbands from millets taken from his granary. It is shameful to sell millet beer. In daily context, men and women generally consume it separately. Otherwise it is used as a major way of mobilizing neighbours for individual undertakings like house building and weeding.
Umu village, Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Construction of houses is generally organized as communal work (Fur: “tawisa” , Arabic: “nafir”), where the host provides participants with local beer (Fur: “kira”, Arabic; “merissa”).
Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1966
A Fur farmer with his throwing stick (Fur: “dolfa”, Arabic: “sofrog”) and his spears (Fur: “Kor”, Arabic: “harba”) in front of his sweet potato (Fur: “bambai”, Arabic: “bambai”) field.
Note that the acasia albida (Fur: “kurul”, Arabic: “haraz”) trees shed the leaves in the rainy season.
Wadi Azum area, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Fur farmer watering his field of melons (Fur: “burto”). The water is lifted from a shallow well (Fur: “ro”) by a “shadouf” (a water lifting device) and brought in a calabash (Fur: “kere”) to the field (Fur: “rei”).
Wadi Azum area, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1966
In the western foothills of Jebel Marra small perennial streams allow for a limited amount of dry season irrigated cultivation. A woman harvesting a field of onions (Fur: “basala”, Arabic: “bassal”) that has been irrigated by the water channels in the foreground. In the background rise the western foothills of Jebel Marra.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1966
A woman mixing clay (Fur: “daalu” ) with sorghum residue as temper for the pots (Fur: “tewe”) she is making.
Sarar village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
An elderly woman has prepared the body (Fur: “kiri”) of three pots (Fur: “ala”). On the picture she is preparing clay mixed with sorghum residue used as temper to make the neck (Fur: “kwei”) of the pots.
Toumra village, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
A woman is kneading clay for pottery making. Note on her right side the small clay ‘pounder’ used to mould the pot (Fur: “tewe”).
Gidad village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
A “mir” (blacksmith/potter caste) woman is shaping the base (Fur: “kiri”) of the pot. Note the small clay pounder that she is using.
Gidad village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
An elderly woman of the blacksmith/potter caste (Fur: “mir”) has prepared the body (Fur:” kiri”) of three pots in the foreground. She is now crushing fine-grained clay on a grindstone (Fur: “dida”) to be smeared on the interior wall of the pot.
Toumra village, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
A Fur woman of the “mir” caste is attaching a ring of wet clay to the body (Fur: “kiri”) of a pot.
Gidad village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
A Fur woman of the “mir” (blacksmith/potter) caste is decorating the body (Fur: “kiri”) of the pot by pressing a shell against the wet clay.
Gidad village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
A Fur woman of the “mir” caste is smoothing with a cow’s rib the interior surface of the rim/mouth (Fur: “uto”) area of the pot she is making.
Gidad Village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
A woman of the “mir” caste is adding graphite to the interior wall of one of the pots she is making. Note the broken pot in the background, which contains graphite, and the pot with red ochre coloured water to be smeared on the outside wall of the pot before drying.
Sarar village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
Two women of the “mir” caste are bringing a couple of sundried pots to be placed in a shallow pit used as firing place.
Sarar village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
A woman of the “mir” caste” is covering the pots in the shallow pit with straw and pieces of firewood (Fur: “ar” ) before firing.
Sarar village, Southern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
Women of the “mir” caste are selling pots at the local souq (market place). Ceramic goods are associated with the stigmatized “mir” identity and are transacted at a distance from the central market place where agricultural and pastoral products are transacted.
Kutum, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Two men of the “mir” caste are strengthening the furnace structure by ropes made of tree fibers. Note the holes for inserting tuyeres (Fur: “borongot”) at the base of the furnace.
Toumra, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Two men of the blacksmith/potter caste (Fur: “mir”) are preparing the furnace for the iron smelting process. Fur farmers generally use the same word “nonum” for furnace and granary. Both granary and furnace are metaphorically linked to two different aspects of womanhood; one with woman as mother (granary – it is the mother who is responsible for cultivating grain to feed her children), and the other with woman as sex partner (furnace – smelting activities are explicitly associated with sexual intercourse). The blacksmiths, however, use a special word for the furnace, namely “bood”, probably because it is a specialized term among these stigmatized craftsmen. Note the ferricrete sandstone in the foreground.
Toumra, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Men of the blacksmith/potter caste (Fur: “mir”) are making tuyeres of clay to be attached to the bellows (Fur: “swi”) used for blowing air into the furnace during smelting of iron (Fur: “daura”). While ordinary pottery making is performed by women of the “mir” caste, the making of clay tuyeres is undertaken by men.
Toumra, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Men of the “mir” caste are making the clay tuyeres (Fur: “borongot”) required for blowing air into the furnace during smelting. The making of tuyeres can easily be associated with sexual intercourse and during the work the “mir” entertain themselves with a rich repertoire of songs with rather explicit sexual metaphors.
Toumra, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Men of the “mir” caste are inserting tuyeres (Fur: “borongot”) at the base of an iron furnace. Note the painted decoration on the body of the furnace.
Toumra, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1973
The smelting of iron is carried out by men of the “mir” caste who are specialized in that craft (women of the “mir” caste are specialized in pottery making). In this photo a man is making charcoal (Fur: “minina”) to be used in the smelting process.
Toumra village, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1973
A blacksmith (“mir”) is digging to locate a vein of iron rich ferricrete sandstone.
The mining area of Jebel Tayu, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1973
A blacksmith crushing ferricrete sandstone for iron smelting at the mining area of Jebel Tayu about one day’s camel ride west of Toumra.
Jebel Tayu, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1973
Preparing ferricrete sandstone for firing in the furnace located behind the blacksmith.
Toumra village, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Men of the “mir” caste are filling up the furnace with sorghum stalks to be used for igniting firewood (Fur: “ar”) and charcoal (Fur: “minina”) that is filled in later.
Toumra village, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Two blacksmiths of the “mir” caste forging an axe (Fur: “bou”, Arabic: “fas”) at the local souq (market place). Iron goods are associated with the stigmatized “mir” identity and are transacted at a distance from the central market place where agricultural and pastoral products are transacted.
Kutum, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Beer-work party (Fur: “tawisa”) organized in connection with house building. Note the circular stone base of the building and the wooden frame of the conical roof that will be covered by thatch.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A beer-work party is organized in connection with house building. The workers are constructing the wooden frame of the conical roof that will be covered by thatch. What is emphasized in the beer-work party is solidarity among equal neighbours, instead of the hierarchy implied by paid work.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
House-building party. Note the clay container for storage of grain (Fur: “nonum”) inside the stonewalls of the house. Ample provision of beer (Fur: “kira”) is a dominant feature of such mutual help undertakings.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Beer-work party mobilized for thatching the roof of a new house.
Wadi Saleh area, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Drummers entertaining participants in a house-building party (Fur: “tawisa”). The festive character of communal works like house-building and agricultural tasks is further emphasized by lavish provision of beer (Fur: “kira”) and food. Provision of beer is not seen by the Fur as payment for work but as part of egalitarian relations between neighbours.
Village in Wadi Saleh area, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Fur woman is drumming next to the underground nests of flying ants (Fur: “simoa”). The sound produced by drumming is apparently a signal similar to rain-drops and entices the ants to come out of their nest. Fried flying ants are a favored delicacy in Jebel Marra villages.
Umu village, Jebel Marra.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Three Fur women are collecting flying ants from underground nests. The Fur of Jebel Marra eat flying ants fried in butterfat as well as raw.
Umu. Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Traditional sesame oil mill (Arabic: “assara”) carved out of a tree trunk. Note how the pounder in the middle of the mill is connected to the lever loaded with stones in the foreground. When the camel moves around the mill, this increases the force the pounder exerts on the sesame seeds and thereby increases the amount of oil extracted. The extracted oil is sold in the market (souq).
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Women using a traditional gin (Fur: “maal”) to separate the seeds from harvested cotton (Fur: “nyiri”).
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A man at his loom (Fur: “shaaka”). Spinning and weaving of cotton are considered male work. At marriage, a man should present his mother in law (Fur: “iya mare”, Arabic: “naseeba”) with a woven garment.
Amballa, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
At the trunk of this Ficus spp. (Fur: “buro”. Arabic: “Gimmeiz”) tree the Fur of Amballa performed rain rituals during the cultivation season.
Amballa, Lower Wadi Azum, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Slaughtering an ox (Fur: “nong”) for provision of meat (Fur: “nino”) to entertain guests coming to a circumcision ritual.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Circumcision of boys is an important ceremony in Fur communities and lasts for several days. It involves consumption of local beer (Fur: “kira”) and prestigious food like meat (Fur: “nino”), and involves festive activities with dancing, most importantly the ritualized “dance of the gazelle”, (Fur: “ferangabie”). The songs sung by the women contain very explicit references to sexual intercourse and the female genitalia (Fur: “sendi”).
Amballa, Lower Wadi Azum, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Celebrations in connection with circumcision of boys (Fur: “dogola kandi”, Arabic: “tahura”). Note the cowrie shells (Fur: “kandura”, Arabic: “wadda”) used as ornament in the hair of the lady to the left of the man in the middle. Cowrie have been reported to be used as a medium of exchange until 150 years ago and connected Darfur in a widespread exchange network from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. All the time cowries have served as female ornaments and frequently used on ceremonial occasions. A cowrie shell has a form that often trigger metaphoric associations with the female genitalia.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Communal festivities at circumcisions are very important among the Fur. In this photo, women are dancing “the gazelle dance” ( Fur: “ferangabie”) around the hut where the circumcision (Fur: “dogola kandi”, Arabic: “tahura”) will be performed.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Drumming, singing, and dancing are important events connected with circumcision (Fur: “dogola kandi”, Arabic: “tahura”). Note the man dressed as a woman to the left of the drummers. He is a male relative of a boy to be circumcised. Also note the women with sticks and sometimes weapons ordinarily carried by men. A characteristic feature of circumcision rituals is that many participants are using cultural elements associated with the opposite gender.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Circumcision ceremonies include transvestitism by a male relative of the boy to be circumcised. In this photo, a man dressed as a woman is surrounded by people drumming and singing.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Circumcision festivities with procession of women carrying objects related to food making as well as others related to male activities like hunting and warfare. This procession is called “ferangabia” which in Fur language means “the dance of the gazelle”. Note the cowrie shells (Fur: “kandura”, Arabic: “wadda”) in women’s hair: the shape of cowrie lends itself to metaphoric association with the vagina (Fur: “sendi”).
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A variety of cultural elements (associated with males as well as females) are improvised in the festive activities taking place at circumcision. On this photo a decorated camel (Fur: “kamal”) on which the boy to be circumcised rides from the place where he has been secluded during the liminal period (neither child, nor adult) to the place of circumcision that signify transition to manhood. Note the amber (Fur: “zumam”, Arabic: “zeitun” – meaning in fact olives) beads attached to the helmet. This combination of female and male associated elements emphasizes the liminal position of the boy to be circumcised.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Men are gathered on the slope of a cultivation terrace for their Friday prayer. Fur people practice rituals associated with Islam as well as with non-Islamic religious traditions.
Umu village, Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A local court (Arabic and Fur: “Makkama”) where the omda (Arabic for chief in the governmental system of administration) is hearing a case. Such courts were mainly deciding according to customary law.
Amballa, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Fur women are fetching water from a shallow pond by means of calabashes (Fur: “kere”) and pouring it into clay pots (Fur: “tawu”) that they carry on their heads back to the village. Activities connected with food preparation like grinding grains, collecting firewood, fetching water (Fur: “koro”) are considered female work.
Lower Wadi Azum, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Fur woman making stone grinders (Fur: “munang”- upper grinder, “dida” – lower grinder). A syndrome of activities associated with food preparations, like fetching water and firewood, making pots, and even, as this picture shows, making grinders of stone are considered female activities.
A hill site near Dor, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Fur boys who do not go to government schools will for periods of 4 to 6 years attend Koran schools (Fur: “som”) where they are instructed by local faqihs (Arabic for “holy men”) teaching them to write verses from the Koran. During this period they generally attend schools led by different faqihs, involving movements over areas covering large parts of Darfur. These Koran school boys (Arabic and Fur: “Muhagerin”) are on the way to a new faqih in a different village. During the studies they subsist on alms given by the people of the villages where they study. Note the wooden board (Arabic and Fur: “loh”) that the boy to the left is carrying on his shoulder. It is on this board they are trained to write Koranic verses by locally produced ink (Fur: “dawai”, Arabic: “hibr”).
Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A group of Fur villagers are writing down Koran verses on the traditional writing boards (Arabic and Fur: “loh”) in connection with preparing healing water for a sick person. The ink written verses are washed off from the board and the water is believed to have a healing effect.
Amballa, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Two Fur men are writing on their wooden boards (Arabic and Fur: “loh”) holy verses from the Koran. When they have filled the board with writings the ink (Fur: “dawai”, Arabic: “hibr”) is washed off and poured into the pots. The holy water is believed to a have a curing effect on sick people.
Amballa, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Fur man is washing ink used to write Koranic verses off his writing board (Arabic and Fur: “loh”). The magic significance of the written Islamic text is exemplified in the belief that drinking this water has a healing effect.
Amballa, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Fur woman with her child in a transhumant settlement.
Village near Kutum in Northern Darfur.
Photo : Randi Haaland, 1978
Two Fur women are carrying water in ceramic pots (Fur: “tawu”) back to their village.
Jebel Si, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A young Fur woman in an isolated village on Jebel Gurgei is leaving the family compound. Note that she is not dressed according to the Islamic codes, although she is a Muslim.
Jebel Si area, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
A Fur woman is standing with her baby on the alluvial soils of wadi Aribo. Note the acacia albida trees (Fur: “kurul”, Arabic: “haraz”) in the background. The acacia albida trees are a characteristic feature of the lower wadis of Western Darfur. During the dry season the pods of the acacia albida provide nutritious food for the cattle of the Baggara Arab nomads who in this season camp on the harvested fields under the trees. The dung from the cattle serves to fertilize the fields of the Fur farmers who cultivate them in the rainy season. In the rainy season the acacia albida trees shed their leaves. This photo is from the dry season.
Wadi Aribo, near Zalingi, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1966
An elderly woman accompanied by four girls and a boy outside her compound in the village of Toumra.
Toumra, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
One of the sons of the last sultan of Darfur, Ali Dinar (killed in 1916 west of Zalingi while fleeing from the British invasion force).
El Fashir, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
