The Deriba volcanic crater lake of the Jebel Marra mountain massive.
Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Photo 2 – UBB-HAA-515
The landscape of Jebel Marra is dramatic. The steep mountain tops contrast with the hillsides of non-irrigated rainy season cultivation terraces.
Umu village of Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1966
Photo 3 – UBB-HAA-431
The multi-ethnic market town of Kutum situated on the way to the blacksmith village of Toumra in Northern Darfur. Kutum is known for the many date palms (Fur: “senda”) seen in the wadi between the huts in the foreground and the hills.
Kutum, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Photo 4 – UBB-HAA-437
An isolated village on Jebel Gurgei in the Jebel Si area of Northern Darfur, where people still lived in a very special type of house with flat-topped roofs, called “Torrontoga”. In the Fur language “tong” means house, and such houses are associated with a mythical people called Torro. One man is standing in front of the entrance, while two others are standing on the flat roof.
Jebel Gurgei, Northern Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Photo 5 – UBB-HAA-451
A man and his daughter stand outside a flat-roofed Torrontonga house (Fur: “Tong)”. Note that in those days the Muslim Fur of Jebel Si did not practice a strict Islamic dress code for females.
Jebel Si area.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Photo 6 – UBB-HAA-494
Next to a stone-walled house of the Fur we can see four girbas. The girbas are water containers made of goat skin. However the girbas on the photo are used for carrying cereals.
Village near Kutum in Northern Darfur.
Photo: Randi Haaland, 1978
Photo 7 – UBB-HAA-174
Fur villages in the western foothills of Jebel Marra are frequently enclosed by fences made of wooden logs.
Kornei village near Nyertete, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Photo 8 – UBB-HAA-585
Women clearing a hill slope for sowing millet (Fur: “sona”). Men and women have separate fields that they cultivate individually and store the yields in their separately owned granaries (Fur: “nonum”, Arabic: “Dabanga”).
Jebel Si area.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Photo 9 – UBB-HAA-513
A woman doing the third and last weeding before the harvest. The fertile valleys between the hills are easier to cultivate than the stony slopes, but still much hard labour is involved, particularly in weeding.
Western foothills of Jebel Marra.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1966
Photo 10 – UBB-HAA-217
Weeding millets. During “beer-work parties” (Fur: “tawisa”, Arabic: “nafir”), an individual cultivator (man or woman) mobilizes neighbours (men and women) for work by serving them beer (Fur: “kira” Arabic: “merissa”) and sometimes some food. Refusal to accept an “invitation” is taken as an indication of an “unfriendly” relation.
Western foothills of Jebel Marra.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
Photo 11 – UBB-HAA-218
Men drinking beer (Fur: “kira”) during a break in a beer-work party. The beer-work party is just as much a “party” occasion as it is a “work” operation.
Western foothills of Jebel Marra.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1969
