Dab Shid – an Ancient Pre-Islamic Culture That Evolved Into Religion and Culture

Somalia: Dab Shid – An ancient pre-Islamic culture that evolved into religion and culture When I was a kid in Jammaame, in every early August, the farms were at their harvest time. Maize, sorghum, beans, peas, sesame, pumpkins, cotton and many types of fruits were ready for harvest: mango, grapefruit and lemon and water melon. This is the time of the plenty and it is time for celebration. The Dab Shid is a time for celebration of the bounties. But not only that, the culture of Dab Shid is a remnant belief of the past, probably when the Somalis believed in ” Waaq”. It indicates a time when Somalia was not a Muslim country – a pagan period of time. The Dab Shid is the beginning of the Solar Year in Somalia. Each family starts a fire and it is required that each member Jumps over it in order to move, for example from 8 to 9 years old. I remember I used to Jump every year one time in order to move to the next year. If I did not do that, it simply meant that I was not blessed for the next year. Such belief has faded away over the years and in its place Islam has taken deep roots. As time passed and the Somali people moved from the ancient times to the Islamic periods, and Somalis became Muslims, the tradition of Dab Shid did not die but it evolved slightly into a religious ceremony. The burning of the fire is still here, but it also signifies a new connotation: – a time for the southern clans to come together in a general assembly meeting, whereby the Sub-clans show their force and their number. The clans read Qura’an and slaughter mainly 114 sheep or goats (an animal for each surah of the Qura’n), hoping that the new year becomes a good year without any crisis, famine, draught or flooding or a locust year or a year free of spreading diseases. The people pray together to hope for the best year to come. Clans such as the Baadicadde, Abgaal, Shiidle, Sheeqaal, Biimaal, Gelledi, Wacdaan, Murusade, AJuuraan, GaalJecel and many others in the South, particularly along and between the Rivers Shabeelle and Juba celebrate the Dab Shid. In the Jubaland area, the practice of Dab Shid is well known to Mareexaan, the Reer Guri type. the Absame, Awrtable, and even Harti and Cawr Maleh, the GaalJecel, Dagoodi, Garre and AJuuraan and others. Apart from the belief, the people come together for folklore dances, endless competitions for 3 days. Exhibitions of clan dances and manueuvers. Dab Shid is a time when people enJoy. In Afgooye District, 30 km west of Mogadishu, the two main clans, Wacdan on the Eastern Bank of the Shabeelle River and the Geledi clan on the West bank of the river compete in Istunka, which means the “smacking”. The men from the clans line up in rows facing each other and a referee from a third minority clan blows the buun made from an Ankola cattle or a big shell. That marks the Istunka Celebrations for the Dab Shid. The case of Dab Shid in Marka, the Capital City of Lower Shabeelle Region is different. It is purely done with the fire celebrations and the folklore dances. The dances are so attractive that the people of Mogadishu flock to participate and enJoy the great festival of the Aw Cusmaan. In Jilib and Jammaame of Lower Juba, the celebrations are done through the show of force of the clans. The Biimaal and the Sheeqaal clan mix the celebrations with religious rites, mainly done on remote sites on the Indian Ocean, such as Kurta Sheikh. The men parade though the towns and villages, waving spears, with their “lashins” heading the poems – a sign of a successful year. In the Northeast in Puntland, the dab-shid is not well known. There is something called Nayruus in which some clans celebrate. But the Nayruus in Puntland is imported from Iran and across the Arabian Gulf. The song of Abdulkadir Ali Egaal, sang by Halima Khaliif Magool and Mohammed Sulaimaan describes the Nayruus as ” Nayruusku waa ciid waa nagi adduunyaduu” By Abdulkadir Abiikar .

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