Rahla
Rahla ( hassania ), DMG rāḥla, Pl. Rwāḥl, rūāḥl, is the men's riding saddle for dromedaries in Mauritania and Western Sahara . It is made from wooden boards covered with leather .
origin
The camel riding saddle was used by nomads in northern Arabia around 500 to 100 BC. Introduced. In the first centuries AD the camel spread to the north-western Sahara , where it replaced the horse-drawn carts seen on rock art as a transport animal. By 400 the camel was in common use in North Africa.
The basic shape of a camel saddle consists of a V-shaped elongated wooden frame that is placed over the entire hump (Arabic hump saddle). One such example from the southern Sahara is the terke riding saddle used by the Tubu . A lighter type of saddle that is strapped to or in front of the hump and allows a faster gait is known in Arabia and the Sahara under the general term mark loofa . The riding saddles of southern Arabia, which rest behind the hump, differ from this.
The saddle shapes used in the Sahara can be divided into three types, all of which are attached to the camel's shoulder in front of the hump. These shoulder saddles are of Berber origin. In contrast to the hump saddles, they allow better control of the animal because the rider places his feet on its neck. Another advantage is the lower weight and the easier fastening with a strap.
The Tuareg have three forms of saddle. All three are shoulder saddles that differ in size, weight and manufacturing effort. The heavy tarik-n-tamzak is decorated with metal fittings, has a high backrest covered with painted leather and an antler-like extended knob at the front. The simpler talaq is only decorated with painted leather. Another flatter riding seat (tahiast, tahyast) consists of simple wooden boards.
Design
There is only one type of saddle among the nomads of the Bidhan in Mauritania and the Saharauis in the Western Sahara. The rahla is similar to the Tuareg saddle tahiast, but is narrower due to the side support boards. It consists of a rounded short backrest, equally high side boards and a narrow front knob. The boards are with the adze hewn and then roughly smoothed. All ten pieces of wood required are connected to one another by twisted strips of untanned animal hide, which are pulled through drilled holes on the board edges. When placed in water, the skin expands and becomes soft. When drying, the strips of skin shrink and become firm and hard.
With valuable saddles (rāḥla munke) the strips of skin are painted. The entire saddle is decorated with a cover made of painted camel or cowhide, which can be sewn on or removed as a whole. The removable leather cover is called ġšā (Pl. Ġšīye ). Leather is tanned and processed by women of the lower artisan caste (maʿllemīn) with vegetable materials. The design in a geometric and symmetrical style follows the same rules that are also observed for other leather work such as the pillows and transport bags. The number five is often found symbolized by a pattern. Its magical meaning is related to the hand of Fatima (Arabic ḫamza, "five") widespread in the region .
First several blankets are placed on the animal, the saddle is tied over it with a wide belt ( gorḍā, pl. Grād ) running through the middle of the abdomen . The saddle girth is braided from leather, goat hair or sheep's wool, it resembles the trouser belt, which with the matching trousers (m. Serwāl, pl. Srāwīl ) and the wide garment worn over it ( derrāʿa , pl. Drārīʿe ) is the traditional clothing of the Mauritanian man of the desert. Before the rider sits up, he puts a leather or sheepskin blanket over the saddle and leather cover , both times called ilīwīš, (Pl. Alwāwīš ) or ilāušen .
The saddles of the Mauritanian women are the upturned table frames amchaqab for the household items, which are padded with the armrest cushions surmije . The women sit comfortably on a flat surface.
distribution
The rahla camel saddle is of little practical use. Its use is limited to remote areas in the east and north of the countries mentioned, which are not or only poorly accessible on slopes with vehicles. The number of nomads in the total population of Mauritania was estimated to be less than five percent in 2010, many of whom use vehicles as a means of transport. The large herds of camels are mainly used for meat production . One of the few places where camel saddles are still made and offered for sale is the Tidjikja Oasis . The overall cultural significance of the lavishly designed Mauritanian leather work for the self-image of a country population, who at the time of independence in 1960 still lived nomadically in a large majority, is much higher.
literature
- Wolfgang Creyaufmüller: Nomad culture in the Western Sahara. The material culture of the Moors, their handicraft techniques and basic ornamental structures. Burgfried-Verlag, Hallein (Austria) 1983, pp. 86, 296, 300, 421-425
Web links
- Wolfgang Creyaufmüller: Peoples of the Sahara - Moors and Twareg. Lindenmuseum, Stuttgart 1979, pp. 75-78
Individual evidence
- ^ Rainer Oßwald: The trading cities of the West Sahara. The development of the Arab-Moorish culture of Šinqīt, Wādān, Tīšīt and Walāta. Marburg studies on Africa and Asia. Vol. 39. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 1986, p. 21
- ↑ E. Mukasa-Mugerwa: The Camel (Camelus Dromedarus): A Bibliographical Review. International Livestock Center for Africa, Addis Abeba 1982, pp. 72–76 Online ( Memento of the original dated July 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Hanna Sotkiewicz: Symbols of the mysticism and magic of the desert. To the leather work of the Tuareg. ( Memento of the original from August 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Artifact, September 27, 2009
- ↑ Creyaufmüller 1983, pp. 297, 299
- ↑ Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh: social structures and political power in Mauritania. In: inamo 61, spring 2010, p. 4
