The Deriba volcanic crater lake of the Jebel Marra mountain massive.
Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Tag Archives: Jebel Marra
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 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 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
Photo 12 – UBB-HAA-227
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
Photo 13 – UBB-HAA-223
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
Photo 14 – UBB-HAA-230
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
Photo 15 – UBB-HAA-134
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
Photo 18 – UBB-HAA-525
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
Photo 19 – UBB-HAA-171
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
Photo 22 – UBB-HAA-514
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
Photo 51 – UBB-HAA-170
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
Photo 52 – UBB-HAA-205
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
Photo 65 – UBB-HAA-538
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
Photo 83 – UBB-HAA-70
A Baggara family outside their tent.
Western foothills of Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Photo 89 – UBB-HAA-20
A woman of the Umm Jalul Arab camel nomads. The Umm Jalul leave their rainy season grazing areas in Northern Darfur and migrate to the area of the Fur in the dry season when water and pastures are scarce in the north.
Foothills of Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Photo 95 – UBB-HAA-288
A couple of the Weila Fulani is setting up their tent towards the end of the rainy season. The Fulani nomads generally move into the Fur area before the Baggara Arabs and they are also the first to move southwards as the rain approaches.
Near Nyertete, Western foothills of Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Photo 96 – UBB-HAA-590
A Fulani nomad of the Weila tribe is demonstrating his skills as an archer. The typical Fulani weapons are the bow and arrow, in contrast to the lance (Arabic: “shalaqaiya”) that is the typical weapon of the Baggara nomads.
Near Nyertete in the western foothills of Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Photo 98 – UBB-HAA-34
Selling agricultural crops provides cash income for local Fur farmers. Most selling takes place at the weekly souq (Arabic for “market”), but sometimes in the home of a cultivator. In this photo, a Fur is selling millet (Fur: “sona”) to an Arab trader.
In a village of the western foothills of Jebel Marra, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Photo 100 – UBB-HAA-527
Beer plays a very important role in the life of the Fur, not only nutritionally but also symbolically. It is a major item in rituals that serve to indoctrinate ideas of solidarity among community members. To sell beer is considered an act similar to selling sex. Women who sell beer are thus considered like prostitutes (Fur: “azaba”). In this photo, Fur women from the village of Umu in Jebel Marra are engaging in such an “immoral” act (Fur: “ora”). Shameful sales used to take place at a distance from the central market space.
Umu village, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
