An exhibition on the lives of Muslims in Poland is being held during 1-10
December at the Yemeni Center for Strategic Studies and Research in Sanaa.
Part of the Exhibition of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw, the event
also included several lectures on this topic.
Polish Muslims are tartars who are mainly Sunni Muslims. They number
about 5,000 to 7,000, out of 40 million - Poland's population. Many elements
of the older beliefs common among Turkish nomadic people could be found
in the customs of the Polish Muslims. Through the centuries, however, they
have also adopted Russian and Polish habits.
The tartars were not from freely practicing and teaching their religion.
In the areas where they lived, mosques can be found the oldest of which
are in the Bohoniki and Kruszyniany villages. A new mosque has been built
in Gdansk, and in Warsaw and Bilystok there are prayer houses.
Tartars constitute the most numerous and consolidated group of Polish
Muslims with a tradition of a few hundred years. Tartars is the name of
one of the Turkish-Mongol tribe. They were given the name tartars by the
Slavs whom they attacked during the 13th century A.D. The Lithuanian kings
granted the tartar refugees, who escaped the persecution of one of Genghis
Khan's descendants, lands on which they settled.
The tartar
population grew and prospered. They started to live in and around the major
political and economic centers in Poland. The tartars living in Poland
today are the descendants of those who arrived there in the second half
of the 17th century and were under the protection of the Polish King Jan
the Third.
The tartars who lived in urban areas worked mainly in trade and leather
tanning. Some of them were part of the landed gentry and the nobility.
They showed great bravery in the wars fought by Poland with other countries
until the end of the 18th century when the Polish Empire disintegrated.
After Poland gained its independence - in which the tartars played
a major role - from Germany, Russia, and Austria, they participated in
establishing several cultural and social societies. Books and magazines
were published in the tartar language.
In 1935, the tartar knight legion was established as part of the Polish
army. They were led by the Imam of Warsaw. During the Second World War,
the tartar Muslims, like all other Polish people, took part in the fight
against Germany and the former Soviet Union. Many Muslims went to Warsaw
to escapee religious persecution in Russia.
The Muslim Religion Association and the Association of the Polish Tartars
were founded. Both organizations have been active in social, religious,
and cultural life. They publish some popular and science magazines, arrange
exhibitions, and scientific conferences.
Getting Married in Al - Mahara?
We Tell You How
By: Saad Ali Mohaisin,
Yemen Times, Al-Mahara
Al-Mahara, like other governorates, has its own old characteristic traditions
and customs. These traditions, however, have been influenced by modernization.
But Al-Mahara people still to a large extent adhere to the old ways of
their forebearers. Marriage in Al-Mahara has its unique ceremonies and
traditions.
There
are common traditions in Al-Mahara, but there are also few differences
between rural and coastal areas. Marriage in the countryside is not as
costly as it is in urban areas. Marriage invitations are not exclusive
but rather open for everyone, where people in the village or neighborhood
are invited to a lunch banquet. The bridegroom bears all expenses for a
three-day banquet as well as the dowry and offerings of no less than three
cows and a camel. The bridegroom also buys clothes and perfumes for all
the bride's relatives and friends along with gold for the bride.
As far as the dowry is concerned, marriage to a relative is cheaper
than to a non-relative where the bridegroom pays about one million riyals.
Or he may present a new car instead of the money. The high cost of the
dowry is actually due to price increases and the high cost of living. In
some cases, the cost of marriage to a relative cannot exceed 20,000 riyals,
provided that a big banquet is held with offerings which may include three
camels and some sheep.
The marriage starts by an engagement taking place through a matchmaker,
a tribal sheikh, or the fathers of the bride and bridegroom-to-be. Marriage
from outside the tribe is more costly than that from within it.
The engagement, however, might be successful or unsuccessful from some
reason or another. It may come to nothing because of an objection by the
relatives, the tribesmen, or the bride herself. A girl's opinion had rarely
been taken into consideration in the past.
If a marriage agreement is reached, the bride's father unexpectedly
throws a dress on her head, declaring marriage. The bride conceals herself
for one or two months for beautification. Her mother gives her milk and
honey. Some neighbors and friends lend the bride some kinds of gold jewelry
on the wedding day.
The wedding day in Al-Mahara is a celebration where many people from
the countryside, towns and villages attend and perform Al-Zamel - groups
of people eulogize the families of the newlyweds and compete in poetry
and dancing, wearing daggers and other weapons. The bridegroom sits in
the middle of these groups wearing his beautiful dress and holding his
dagger and shotgun. This wedding ceremony can be a good occasion for friends,
relatives and neighbors to meet each other.
Many women attend the ceremony to watch the bride. They also perform
Al-Mahari dances from morning till night. The bride's mother presents drinks,
sweets, juice and coffee. Also, she distributes clothes, perfumes and incense
to relatives and neighbors. After that, the bride is shown to all the women
in a special place, so that they have the last look at her, indicating
the end of the marriage ceremony. At sunset, the marriage ceremony ends.
The bride is given away to her bridegroom. In some other areas such as
Ghedhak, the bride is given away after 3 days of celebrations.
