Al-Mahrah: A unique world of customs and traditions [Archives:2008/1118/Reportage]
Abdulrazak Al-Buraihi
For Yemen Times
Mahri women enjoy high prestige among the Mahrah community, which is what gives them a strong personality with very unique customs and traditions among most Yemeni women.
The Mahri woman has been granted the opportunity to thoroughly dominate the family, as she's the decision-maker, the supervisor of family issues and the mastermind behind daily life, even in her husband's presence. Her charisma and strong prestigious position within the family gives Mahri women the responsibility for family matters both inside and outside the home.
Located in eastern Yemen, Al-Mahrah governorate is the exception among the nation's governorates, attributed to numerous factors concerning Al-Mahrah's various characteristics that shape its own privacy. With its own unique environment and terrain, the governorate also has special customs, traditions and human activity in various domains.
Women replacing men
In Al-Mahrah governorate, it's customary for a woman to replace man when the latter is absent. It's also common that most Al-Mahrah locals are immigrants; therefore, one often finds the house free of men, but regardless, family matters go on as normal. Women efficiently manage the family's affairs inside and out, to the extent that they receive guests and their husband's relatives, serving them warmly.
Haisah Bakheet, chairwoman of the Yemeni Women's Union in Al-Mahrah, asserts that women in Al-Mahrah mostly are stronger than men, attributing this to the nature of women's work. As she points out, “Mahri women not only are housewives, but also mothers, sisters and housekeepers.
“Like Yemeni women in other governorates, they have aspirations. They desire to be men's partners in various domains, they aspire to rise to higher positions and to be as civilized as other more developed communities,” she says.
Dowries are a complicated problem
Expensive bridal dowries are a daunting problem about which most Mahri parents and both male and female youths complain. Nevertheless, no solutions have been found yet regarding this rampant phenomenon. Dowries sometimes are exorbitant, skyrocketing to between YR 3 and 4 million, unlike in other governorates.
Such high dowries aren't caused by a shortage of brides, but rather because of deeply-rooted customs within Al-Mahrah's community. A bride's father is entitled to set his daughter's dowry, regardless of the groom's circumstances.
“Most Mahri women complain about the expensive dowries, for which one reason is price hikes. Youths are unable to pay YR 3-4 million for the dowry, gold and the costly open-ended hospitality,” shares Husniyah Arafat, head of the Women's Development Department in Al-Mahrah.
Unfair conditions
Su'ad Abdulmalik says, “The Mahri community still has the complicated problem of finding wives with reasonable dowries, which I attribute to the fact that the community depicts Mahri women as strong individuals, thus causing dowries to increase to an unaffordable amount. This is what makes our area youths indebted, bringing them work hardships and causing them to migrate abroad to find suitable jobs in order to pay such dowries.”
She further argues that the difficulty of marrying in Al-Mahrah governorate isn't limited to high dowries, but involves other social norms and wedding rituals that add unbearable burdens upon grooms. Such issues make marriage impossible.
Mahri grooms must provide and furnish a self-contained apartment, in addition to organizing weeklong wedding festivities, at which sumptuous meals are served day and night for locals from the same area.
Secret qat chewing
As most residents of Al-Mahrah have no desire to chew qat, the governorate has few qat chewers and those who do chew secretly. Because it's considered shameful for women to chew qat, Mahri women are never seen or heard to chew qat, to the extent that they even prevent their husbands and sons from chewing inside the home! For this reason, Mahri men chew qat in women-free homes, at hotels or in public places.
In fact, if a Mahri fiancee discovers that her intended chews qat, backed by her family, she immediately breaks off their engagement, as if he had committed some uncontroversial outrage.
In an attempt to address the qat issue with some local women, when asked whether Mahri women chew it, one woman promptly responded that qat is disgraceful and prohibited for women.
While the governorate doesn't grow qat, it is available in every area, but mostly in cities. It is transported to Al-Mahrah from other governorates such as Sana'a, Rada' and Al-Dhale'.
Because qat has begun to be sold there only within the past few years, there are few qat chewers in Al-Mahrah. Notwithstanding this, some Mahri markets are designated specifically for selling qat and such markets are busy all day long with qat chewers visiting them frequently.
Calmness and simplicity of life
Al-Mahrah residents seek to lead calm and simple lives. Preferring to follow discipline and the law, they demand improved services and living standards, an additional feature of the area's locals. Although they live such a way of life, it should be understood that this part of Yemen still has persistence and its own aspirations.
Migration is an old habit
Most customs of Al-Mahrah locals closely resemble those of Gulf countries because most of its locals are migrants living in such countries. Additionally, Mahri women have much in common with those from the Gulf, especially those in the area of Hawf, which borders Oman.
A transnational road crosses the area, connecting Yemen with the Gulf nations. Gulf residents, particularly Omanis, use this road to exchange visits with Al-Mahrah locals.
For these reasons, those who visit the governorate discover a remarkable resemblance between the appearance of Mahri women and those in the Gulf. For instance, both wear the burqa, that covers a woman's face.
Another similarity is observed when such area residents greet each other face-to-face, during which they stand close with their noses gently touching, an age-old custom still used by nomads both inside and outside of Yemen.
As a result of this strong relationship between Mahris and Gulf residents, the streets of the governorate's capital city of Al-Ghaidha and its other cities are crowded with cars from the Gulf. Some vehicles with Gulf license plates operate as taxis in the governorate, with 70 percent of Al-Mahrah's total cars being numbered.
Ancient bonds
Mahris and Omanis enjoy strong bonds of affection and a good-neighbor policy going back many years; thus, the homes of each are easily accessible to both sides.
Lying at its fingertips, Oman has offered Al-Mahrah a helping hand by implementing several infrastructure projects there. However, as the Omani-built hospital in Al-Ghaidha is able to treat only curable diseases, most patients with incurable diseases are transported three hours away to Oman.
A marvelous language
Al-Mahris have numerous customs and traditions that definitely make them special, including a marvelously unique language known as Mahri. Besides Arabic, area residents use this language to communicate with each other.
As Mahri is purported to be the oldest language on the Arabian Peninsula, historically speaking and looking at the issue from a heritage standpoint, the Mahri language is a marvel of civilization by which the area is characterized.
Moreover, archeologists, historians and linguists specialized in ancient Yemeni languages argue that the current Mahri language is the same language spoken during the Himyarite state.
Surprisingly, numerous elderly Mahris did not attend school and therefore, are not fluent in the colloquial dialect. Instead, they speak broken Arabic. Although it's not written down like other languages, area residents hold onto their language tenaciously because they love it.
Varied customs
In interviews with Mahri locals, honesty, generosity, hospitality, good treatment of strangers and a love of peace were observed as their particular features. In fact, in ancient times, travelers passing through Al-Mahrah needed no money or food, as locals provided them everything. Additionally, mosque extensions and attachments also were constructed primarily for guests.
It's also common for Mahris to cooperate with each other in preparing for wedding parties by serving meals and supporting the poor and needy. Further, tribes in the area attempt to speed up the alleviation of pain and sorrow.
Additionally, Mahris are decent and well-mannered to the extent that one is hard-pressed to find dishonest or guilty individuals that deviate to commit rape or violate other social or legal norms because they all fear bringing shame, vice or disgrace upon their tribe. They further maintain their social solidarity by visiting each other.
Area overview
Considered Yemen's eastern window to the Gulf, Al-Mahrah governorate borders Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the north. To the south, it overlooks the Arabian Sea and borders the Hadramout on the west.
The governorate's area is 67,300 square meters for its 89,000 residents, its lowest population, according to the 2004 census.
Most reside in its coastal cities, particularly Dimqut, Al-Ghaidha, Hawf, Qashn and Saihout. With its nine districts including the capital city of Al-Ghaidha, Neshtoon is its most important and historically famed port for catching and exporting fish.
Additionally, the area is famous for cultivating eucalyptus trees, as well as producing and trading incense. With 250 kilometers of coastline, it tops the other governorates in its abundance of fish and sea resources, while its numerous archeological and tourist sites, located mainly in the areas of Al-Ghaidha, Hawf, Qashn, and Saihout, contain streams and springs.
Desert and plains areas also dominate the governorate, which is hot in summer and moderate in winter.
While its infrastructure remains in its infancy, it improves annually. For example, compared to the 1980s, Al-Mahrah is now much better. Nevertheless, it still lacks a complete structure regarding all its spheres of infrastructure; however, its project-related aspirations and plans are a good omen, as everyone is working diligently to develop the Yemeni governorate and enable it to compete with the others.
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