2016-05-21T15:04:00-07:00
The night of the middle of Sha`ban is of great importance to me
Residents of the city of Ibb, arrive at a large celebration mixed with a religious nature, even if it is
The celebration takes on more of the religious character.
In general…the night of the middle of Sha`ban has a special place for me
Yemenis are everywhere in Yemen, but the city of Ibb is distinguished from the rest of the Yemeni cities by its special rituals
Tonight, because of that difference, many city residents are wondering about the secret behind
These rituals and customs and their origin.
Shabaniyah Night (Night of Half Shaban) in
dad
Before tonight, the homes of Ibb City are preparing for this
Tonight, I will be making cakes, dhamool (a type of pastry), and razanah (a type of pastry) and…
Tanfash (popcorn), and preparing porridge to eat at night. And buy sweets and drinks
Candles, lanterns, and new clothes for children. In the past, families would make them themselves
Lamps (a piece of cloth rolled into the shape of a long pen and dipped in oil and burnt frankincense).
I will not exaggerate if I say that joy is a night
The middle of Sha`ban was greater in joy than other holidays, perhaps because it was unique in its beautiful characteristics.
Due to the many rituals that people practice in order to complete the Shabaniyah night, it is not like the rest
Holidays that are limited to visiting family only.
After sunset on the night of the middle of Sha`ban, it will be
Households have prepared small bags filled with popcorn and inside them are shaped and colored (
Sweets, candle, cake, and refrigerators in it
Drinks, these bags are distributed to neighborhood children who come to visit homes for the evening
On the night of Shaabaniyah, they offer them drinks. As for the people of the house, they gather and eat
Pastries and porridge (eating porridge is an ancient custom), and as for the children, they wear new clothes
.
But before everyone leaves the house, if not
Time is getting late, and they are waiting for the icon of the night, which is the Shaabaniya camel (a large covered wooden figure
cloth, well cared for, and inside it were three people carrying out a campaign), and upon the presence of
The camel, accompanied by the camel groom, opens the tape recorder to a voice singing the evening of Shaaban.
(I don’t know what you’re saying, but I wish I knew the words of that evening greeting.) Then the camel rises
Dancing to the beat of drums, children and residents of homes gather around him while he dances
In harmony with the drums and the night, the residents perform
Homes take their children and place them on top of the camel while dancing, and fear and crying always accompany
Children, especially girls, when the scary camel arrives, as the Shaabaniya camel represents terror
Girls had more than boys, and there was not one camel, but several camels made by people
There were many, and there were large camels and small camels, as the large camels were special for families
This work was inherited, and the little camel designs the children of the neighborhood according to their ability
Ltd., and if the camel is late, everyone leaves
To visit the family, accompanied by the children, carrying candles, lamps, and lanterns, and he goes
Children also go to neighborhood homes and knock on their doors carrying candles and lamps
The lanterns are lit on the night of Shabaniyah, and they chant the night’s songs that say:
Except evening……night, oh
Night. Except in the evening……..the night of Shaabaniyah
Except in the evening……. Come in the evening with you. Until evening……Marry me your daughter
Evening….. Come in the evening from Yareem. Except in the evening….. with ghararah and shreem
Evening…..you will arrive in the evening from Aden. Until evening…they sprinkled me with milk
……
……
……
……
top form
Kids get bags full of popcorn
And cakes, sweets, candles, money (the right of Shaabaniyah), and they drink drinks.
As for the mosques, they are filled with dhikr and
Greetings and the smell of incense and rose water, and some families hold Mawlid Dhikr in their homes.
This is roughly the form of rituals in the city of Ibb, which
The relatively modern generation has known it, and there are other customs that existed in the past and have disappeared.
What is the origin of the night of the middle of Sha`ban in general?
The story of that wooden camel statue and those rituals in the city of Ibb?
The night of the middle of Sha`ban is a celebration, and he confirms that it is
A celebration of the ritual form in the city of Ibb, and the city of Al-Hudaydah shares with it, which is called among them (
Joy), and from the evening it indicates that it is an occasion of rejoicing more than a religious ritual, as well
Vocabulary of the chants and songs accompanying this night, which begin with the word (ala) and
This word is famous in the songs of joy of the inhabitants of the central regions, which are abundant in
Holidays and joys, according to the interpretation of the researcher Nizar Abdo Ghanem regarding the interpretation of that word
Which are abundant in songs and melodies, and they attribute it to the fact that they are only said in songs that contain
Cheer and joy.
Is the night of the middle of Sha`ban an Islamic ritual?
The night of the middle of Sha`ban is not limited to Muslims
The night of the middle of Sha`ban is a ritual that exists in other non-Muslim peoples, so it is a ritual older than Islam
But it had an Islamic religious character, so everyone thought it was an Islamic ritual.
China celebrates a holiday called the Moon Festival
Their celebration takes place in the middle of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, and the eighth month in
The Hijri calendar is Shaban, and the Chinese consider it a national holiday. Families distribute cakes, pastries, and sweets to children on this holiday. Incense is burned in temples, and they carry
Chinese dragons, cakes in the shape of the moon, children buying a doll, and
They light candles, and in the streets some people carry a statue of a dragon. It almost represents the dragon and the bride
The moon is the most important symbol of the holiday in China, as almost Chinese legend tells a story about a woman
In exchange for marrying her, she asked to do supernatural things, so a man changed the weather and climate and took her
to the moon .
In one of the regions of the State of Morocco, at night
In the middle of Shaaban, they take a girl and dress her in certain clothes, dye her the color red, and ride her on an animal.
Behind her, drums beat and they take her to a river, and when she arrives, she washes and wipes herself off
The dye is on her body.
As for Tunisia and Libya, some told me
Friends there said they were preparing porridge meal that night.
Let’s go to Islam and look for the virtue of the night
Half of Shaaban.
In the Islamic religion there are hadiths attributed to
The virtue of the Shabaniyah night. It is said that on the night of the middle of Shaban, people’s papers fall and livelihood is divided
There are hadiths that say that Allah will descend on this night and forgive everyone.
There are famous supplications mentioned in this regard
Tonight, many of those supplications are calling on Allah for provision, goodness, and forgiveness.
Who can check these previous examples but…
Whether it was in the city of Ibb, China, Morocco, or Tunisia, one will notice similarities in things, namely cakes.
And the bride, the animal, and the moon, and these things represent the most important symbols of that holiday, except for them
Muslims or others.
What is the origin of this holiday?
From my point of view I can say that
The origin of this holiday is the harvest festival of ancient peoples, and it was not of Islamic origin that came yet.
The advent of Islam, but it was tinged with a religious color and gained a sacred status, which is the same sacred status
Which the peoples of the region had before the entry of Islam, so it is a purely local ritual, even if it is said
It contains religious hadiths in Islam.
Cakes, porridge and pastries, from
The product of the harvest is goodness and sustenance, it is praise and gratitude for the harvest.
It is the Muslim’s supplication to Allah for sustenance, goodness, and pardon always. It is the division of sustenance for people as well
Religious texts in Islam say that it is distributed to people in a large festive scene
Thanks and praise for this year’s harvest is a celebration of this year’s abundant and good harvest.
But how can it be said that it is a holiday?
The harvest when we know that agriculture is linked to the solar months and not the lunar months?
Many do not realize that in the past, it was
The lunar months are compatible with the solar months. The ancients used to add a month to each
Three years to cover the difference between the solar and lunar year, and this has always been the case
The solar month always corresponds to the lunar month, and based on this fact, the month of Shaban
It must always come during the harvest season, but because Islam came and abolished the third month
Ten is the month of Nasee’, so the month of Sha’ban no longer always comes during the harvest season, like the rest of the other lunar months. Sometimes Ramadan comes.
Sometimes in the rainy season, sometimes in the cold season, sometimes in the spring, and so on.
So, the month of Shaban used to come in the past
In the harvest season associated with the solar months, that is, if the harvest season is in the month of October
The month of Shaban always comes in this month.
What is the benefit of meeting the month?
The solar month with the lunar month, what is the benefit if we say that the lunar month that will come in
The harvest season will be the month of Shaban, as long as the lunar months cannot be differentiated?
We know that the solar month can
It is known roughly and easily through the stars. When a star enters, we know that it is a specific solar month.
Also, because the solar months are accompanied by known natural changes, we have the rainy season
It comes in abundance in certain months such as August, July, etc., and cold weather comes in
The end of the year and so on, meaning if you do not know the calendar, you can know the month from
Through the stars in the sky or through natural changes that occur or through means
Other.
But what about the lunar month, is it possible
Differentiate between one month and another?
Of course, the lunar month is not possible
To differentiate it from another lunar month, they are all similar, and there is no sign by which it can be used
Linking it to a specific lunar month, except in one case only, which is in the case where it is
The moon is at its closest point to the Earth, where the moon appears very large and as if it is descending
On Earth, and I believe that in this case it was the month of Shaban, which comes in a season
The harvest, especially since we know that our popular singing heritage sings and describes the month of Shaban
Beauty and the face of the beloved are in the moon of Shaaban due to its great size and beauty, and the religious texts tell us
Also with hadiths about Allah descending to the nearest place in the sky, as if it were a case of describing the moon and it
It is as if it is close to the surface of the earth and touching the ground.
That’s why I believe that the ancients
They chose that phenomenon in which the moon is at the closest point to the earth, and the moon appears large and as if it is touching the earth.
They always made it come during the harvest season, the month of Shaban we have now. This is not the case now
It is counted as it was before, after canceling the old calculation of the lunar months. The month of Shaaban
Now it does not come with that phenomenon.
What is the interpretation of the animal camel and desire?
What about the accompanying marriage on this holiday in the city of Ibb?
Given the Moon Festival in China
Scenes of celebration in Morocco and the city of Ibb. We notice the repeated mention of the bride. The Chinese make…
Dolls in the form of a doll. Chinese legend talks about the story of a woman whose marriage requires fulfillment
Certain tasks and finally she travels to the moon, and in Morocco a girl dresses in certain clothes and gets painted
She paints herself with red dye and rides on an animal and goes to wash herself from the river, and in the city of Ibb and elsewhere
From the villages of Ab accompany the songs that are said in this
Eid, talking about the desire to get married, and the fear and screaming of girls from climbing on the back of a camel, and
It was customary for every girl to climb on top of the camel, unlike the boy.
The truth is…it was as if we were facing a funeral ritual
Very old, this ritual that comes after the harvest and goodness, where an offering is made to Allah to thank Him for the abundant provision and goodness of this year.
There are religious texts that talk about people’s leaves falling on this day, and it is as if on this day a lottery is held for everyone, and then the leaf with the name of the one from whom the sacrifice is made is chosen. As for the type of sacrifice, it was a girl, in a ritual similar to the ritual of the ancient Egyptian bride. The Nile. The girl is the bride who will marry the moon. She is the sacrifice offered to the moon to thank him for his good deeds every year. This explains the red dye (the color of blood) that the girl is dyed with in the state of Morocco. She is the bride who rides on the back of an animal and the drums are played for her. Children walk behind her carrying candles and lanterns made of incense and frankincense in a funeral scene to present her as a bride to the moon.
Written by: Medhat Muhammad