Yemen Times
Taiz


Little has been written on social superstitions spread among our Yemeni society. Many of those beliefs have been inherited through generations and are still alive among us. Here we describe the main Yemeni superstitions.

The Ram (Al-Hamal)
Al-Hamal is a superstitious animal which is also called the graveyard’s monster. It is believed that it disinters buried bodies in the first week of burial. Al-Hamal is interested in only those whose horoscope is the ram. During the first week of burial in which the ram is believed to appear, relatives of the dead keep on the watch.

(Al-Bodda)
Beliefs in this superstitious creature is spread in Tihama and its surroundings. Al-Bodda is a witch that can change her appearance into many different shapes. Recently, it has been said that a great number of them were burnt when people’s awareness about the spread of immorality increased. It is more interesting to know that young people who are not able to afford marrying expensive, beautiful brides go to Boddas requesting them to change themselves into their beloveds and make love to them on sand.

(At-Tahesh)
It is a lion-like beast with a smooth body. Its speed is compared to that of a bullet. That is why nobody has so far been able to capture or kill it. Al-Hawban Tahesh in Taiz has been most famous through Yemeni history and on which many stories have been told and written.

Quest for Treasures
In many villages, especially the remote ones, people believe in the existence of buried treasures. Stories of such treasures are told by old people. People leave homes for mountains in quest of treasures believed to had been left by their grandfathers in stores dug in the earth. Some people succeed to find such stores but all they find is invaluable items or coal. The failure to find treasures is always attributed to the fact that they did not slaughter sheep before searching the store.

Jinns’ Courts
Throwing hot substances and other material in bathrooms and deserted places is believed to be harmful. Doers may be paralyzed or run mad if they hit the invisible creatures. If a jinn is hit a court session is bound to be held soon inside the doer’s mind until they decide to forgive. During the period of holding those sessions the host is mad.

(Sayad)
Sayad is a devil in the shape of a woman that often exists in inhabited areas. She is amazingly beautiful but with donkey legs! As soon as one discovers the reality about her legs she vanishes.
(Al-Odroot)
Al-Odroot is a devil that is believed to inhabit houses. It is a noisy creature that tends to move housewares tools or hide them for some time but return them to their places when house members have lost hope of finding them. They sometimes make strange sounds as well.

Do You Want to Send a Letter to Your Dead Relatives?
Some people claim that their souls visit the dead in their graves when they are asleep. In their tours, souls gather information and messages to be delivered to those alive. When those people wake up, the first thing they do is deliver the messages of the dead to the intended targets.

(Al-Wali)
The Al-wali is a faithful muslim man who made good deeds and virtuous all his life. People seeking recovery, penance, etc. visit their graves to be blessed. When one has a problem he vows to slaughter a sheep or a cow for the Al-Wali, resulting in solving his problem. But if he doesn’t meet his vows, the Al-Wali’s spirit comes to him at night threatening. In their pursuit of recovery, blessing, etc. visitors may eat soil covering the graves, lit candles, etc.

(Al-Hilteet)
It is a soar Arabian herb with a disgusting smell. It is used to rub the skin of patients of epilepsy because it is believed to drive the bad spirits outside the sick body.

Charms (Al-Hirz)
Charms are small pieces of papers bearing meaningless words and signs with some verses from the Holy Quran. Those pieces are tied on patients and hands of children.

Eggs Are Sometimes Cheap to Break
Before the bridegroom steps out of her father’s house, eggs are broken in front of her to protect her from devils and evil spirits. The same is done when a baby is taken outside the house for the first time.

Burning the Aloe
When women give birth to babies they burn the aloe in their rooms from sunset until they sleep. This goes on for almost a month so that the new born babies would grow up safely away from the evil influence of devils.

Changing Names
If astrologers tell parents that the name they have chosen for their baby does not agree with its horoscopes they change it. Sometimes it is the astrologer who chooses the new name.
Anointing Children’s Tongues with Oil
Some parents anoint their children’s tongues with oil or honey when they are 2 years or older in order to be eloquent.

Palmistry
Many people pretend to be palmists. They claim that they can foretell the future of people through the lines on palms.

The Tar (Qatran)
This black substance is used to anoint people’s foreheads so as to be protected from evil. Before the Yemeni revolution in North Yemen, when the Imam wanted to test the mentality of his people he would claim that his jinns had run away and that people who did not cover their foreheads with tar would be harmed by jinns.

Swimming for Recovery
A swimming pool located inside the Ahmad ben Alwan Mosque is said to cure a lot of diseases.

Sell Your Fever and Malaria to Ants!
It is said that there were people who believed that they could sell their fever and malaria to ants. When these people caught fever or malaria, they used to go to ant nests. There they tie themselves with a thread and say: “We sell you the fever, ants.”

Cauterizing (Al-Wasm)
Some patients are cauterized in different parts of their bodies to be healed spiritually and physically.

Yemen Times continues part 2 of its amazing Yemeni superstitions article
next week!!

Mohammed Al-Hakimi
Yemen Times - Taiz

After having the first three episodes of this series on Yemeni intellectuals published, YT received many letters regarding this issue.

Here are some of those letters:
Nagla Al-Umary, a poet and storywriter. ”They say when a messenger comes, you see a small cloud of dust first, the horse then the messenger. We are waiting to see the good future of culture in Yemen, but nothing can be seen yet. Will we ever be fortunate enough to see the messenger.” She also said “for the time being, keeping some hope in the future is enough, but dual understanding, accepting other opinions and realizing cultural make enough room for everybody keep the cloud of dust away. I think that the number of female writers is increasing in time. Many female writers became well-known in the nineties.”

Mohammed Abdul-Wakeel Jazem, a writer. “ the relationship between Yemeni intellectual and private cultural establishments is almost nonexistent. We know many profound writers suffering from ignorance. The situation of Yemeni intellectuals can be summarized in the following:
- Some Yemeni intellectuals are very poor and cannot meet the needs of life because they have their own point of view and never sell their dignity and beliefs.
- Some others preferred to glorify the government in their writings. These writers may have money, but they lost their independent viewpoint and identity.

The cultural situation in Yemen is part of the situation of the weakening culture in the Arab World. Innovation in the Arab world is developing slowly, part of which is the cultural innovation in Yemen. Generally speaking, innovation is strongly tied to social development, which is extremely slow in Yemen.
Abdul-Salam Othman, Director of ‘Alebda’a’ Cultural establishment, and author of ‘Mareb’, a relatively famous book of the Yemeni library collection, said “We thank YT, Taiz Bureau for their efforts in introducing our Yemeni culture. Most cultural establishment work independently with almost no help whatsoever from the government. All what the government does is grant permission to the establishments to operate. The increasing number of private cultural establishments nowadays is a healthy phenomenon, which will no doubt, contribute to the development of our cultural situation.”

Ahmed Al.Shalafi, a poet, said “ what is required now is not issuing permissions and accommodating offices without some real work that could contribute effectively to the development of Yemeni culture.” Al-Shalafi also gave examples of successful cultural establishments, such as the Sanaa-based Al-Afif Cultural Establishment, which is considered among the most active in Yemen. “Yemeni intellectuals mostly depend on their own efforts to gain the fame and public support needed. Our problem is not the absence of creative intellectuals, but the absence of supporting establishments.

Abdul-Rahman Al.Humaidi, Public Relations Manager at the Yemeni Union for Culture and Arts (TAIF), said, “cultural establishments are considered the link between intellectuals and the general public. But let there be no doubt, these establishments need the support from the government and from the public, otherwise they may stop being effective and eventually die out.”
He added “women are not and should not be isolated from the cultural movement taking place in Yemen at all. Yemeni female intellectuals have participated greatly in many cultural activities. In fact, many of them received more support and attention than their male colleagues. It was this care that helped some women become quite famous and prominent. I believe the Ministry of Culture should do a lot to help Yemeni intellectuals and hence, accelerate the development process of the Yemeni culture. The Ministry of Culture, unfortunately, is not aware of the potential in Yemeni intellectuals. In fact, there is no kept record or contact information for these intellectuals. The ministry simply knows nothing about them, but does a lot of lip service in this aspect. We still hope that the ministry convert its words and promises into practical action.”

Abdul-Ghani Al.Maqrami, a poet and journalist said, “the increasing number of cultural establishments represents a good step forward, but the presence of those establishments is not enough to promote culture in the country. Many of these establishments could not gain the trust of the public, especially after the public had lost hope in the governmental cultural establishments. The challenge of attracting the public to traditional cultural events has become increasingly difficult for the new generation especially as the new information technologies, such as the Internet and digital communications started emerging.
I believe that the competition between some of our cultural establishments and the new communication technology is a losing match in favor of the new technology. The current cultural innovation in Yemen is part of a larger cultural innovation in the Arab world. I also believe that there is a powerful direction towards shallow culture. Arabic satellite channels enhances this attitude. In addition to that, our educational establishments like schools and universities are unable to stop the diffusion in other cultures, which in the end will lead to the elimination of the good aspects of the Yemeni culture. Nobody can deny that there is a cultural movement in Yemen, but this movement is still immature for disregarding many distinguished talents and instead showing distorted models.
As for female intellectuals, many have dedicated themselves to one sole issue which is women’s rights, and the relationship between men and women. Many women writers are obsessed by the so-called unjust treatment of men to women, and hence that is almost all they write about. I believe they should dedicate more time to other cultural issues, otherwise it would truly be a potential waste.”

The overall conclusion that we came with after the interviews that we are in a critical stage in which culture is slowly losing its ground. All interviewed intellectuals agree that we must act fast before it is too late.

So loud the cries of pain
So much my land does gain
Does wait for a world of hope
But alas! Does wane and wane