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Culture of Somaliland encompasses a wide range of Somali activity and Islamic structures that give Somaliland a rich cultural and historical heritage. Nomadic and Arab Islamic cultural significance have also played a key role in Somaliland's cultural history. [1] [2] [3]
It is considered polite for one to leave a little bit of food on a plate after finishing a meal at another's home. This tells the host that one has been given enough food. If one were to clean his or her plate that would indicate that he or she is still hungry. Most Somalis don't take this rule so seriously, but it is certainly not impolite to leave a few bits of food on one's plate. Traditionally, the main meal of the day is eaten at lunchtime and Somali people usually begin their day with a flat bread called Laxoox or La'hooh, liver, toast, cereal or porridge made of millet or cornmeal. Lunch can be a mix of rice or noodles with meat and sauce. When the Italians ruled the Horn of Africa they brought some of their cuisine to Somaliland for example Pasta Al Forno (in Somali Paasto Forno) and they also planted bananas in the south of the region. Also during Lunch they diet may consist of a traditional soup called maraq (it is also part of Yemeni cuisine) made of vegetables, meat and beans and usually eaten with Flat bread or Pitta bread. Later in the day a lighter meal is served which includes beans, Ful medames, muffo (patties made of oats or corn), Hummus or a salad with more Laxoox/Injera. Somalilanders drink Somaliland coffee that is grown in Somaliland. Somaliland tea is also drunk in Somaliland, it's one of the famous drinks in the region - the Shah Hawaash. The majority drink a traditional and cultural tea known as Shah Hawaash, it is made of cardamom (Somali Hawaash) and cinnamon barks (Somali Qoronfil).
It is traditional for Somalis to perfume their homes after meals. Frankincense (Somali: foox, Arabic: اللبان ) or a special man-made incense called unsi (in Arab countries it is called Bukhoor, this also may be used) is placed on top of hot coal inside the Dabqaad which will burn continuously for about ten minutes until the foox or unsi is completely consumed. This will keep the house fragrant for hours. The pot is made from a white clay that is found in Somaliland.
Islam and poetry have been described as the twin pillars of Somali culture. Most Somalis are Sunni Muslims and Islam is vitally important to the Somali sense of national identity. Most Somalis don't belong to specific mosque or sect and can pray in any mosque they find.
Celebrations come in the form of religious festivities, two of the most important being Eid al Adha and Eid al Fitr which marks the end of the fasting month. Families get dressed up to visit one another. Money is donated to the poor. Other holidays include June 26, which celebrates Somaliland's independce, however it is unrecognised by the international community.
In a nomadic culture, where one's possessions are frequently moved, there is little reason for the plastic arts to be highly developed. Somalis embellish and decorate their woven and wooden milk jugs (Somali Haano, the most decorative jugs are made in Erigavo) and their wooden headrests, and traditional dance is important; though mainly as a form of courtship among young people. The traditional dance known as the Ceeyar Somaali in the Somali language is Somaliland's favourite dance.
Also, an important form of art in Somaliland is henna painting (Somali: Xenna, Arabic: حناء). The Henna plant is widely grown across the region and it was Arab merchants and settlers that first brought the art of Henna painting in early Somaliland. During special occasions, a Somali women's hands and feet are expected to be covered in decorative mendhi. Girls and women usually apply or decorate their hands and feet in henna on joyous celebrations like Eid, weddings etc. The henna designs can be very simple to highly intricate. Unlike Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi henna designs, the Somali and Arab designs are more modern and simple compared to the latter. Traditionally, only women apply this body art and it is absolutely strange for men to apply such art on their hands and feet.
Henna is not only applied on the hands and feet but at the same time it is used as a dye. Somali men and women alike use henna as a dye to change their hair colour. Mostly, elderly men with grey hair apply such procedure because black hair dye is forbidden in Islam. Women are free to apply henna on their hair as most of the time they are wearing a hijab.
Most people in the Somaliland region speak Somaliland's three languages: the Somali language and the Arabic language, also English is spoken and taught in schools. Somali belongs to a set of languages called Lowland Eastern Cushitic spoken by peoples living in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Kenya. Eastern Cushitic is one section of the Cushitic language family, which in turn is part of the great Afro-Asiatic stock. Arabic is the most spoken language of the Afro-Asiatic language branches. It belongs to the Semitic languages, together with Hebrew and Amharic.
The main Somali dialect which is the most widely used is Common Somali, a term applied to several subdialects, the speakers of which can understand each other easily. Common Somali is spoken in most of Somalia and in adjacent territories (Ogaden, North Eastern Province, and Djibouti), and is used by broadcasting stations in the Somaliland.
Facility with language is highly valued in Somali society; the capability of a suitor, a warrior, or a political or religious leader is judged in part by his verbal adroitness. In such a society, oral poetry becomes an art, and one's ability to compose verse in one or more of its several forms enhances one's status. Speakers in political or religious assemblies and litigants in courts traditionally were expected to use poetry or poetic proverbs. Even everyday talk tended to have a terse, vivid, poetic style, characterized by carefully chosen words, condensed meaning, and alliteration.
In the prerevolutionary era, English became dominant in the school system and in government. However, the overarching issue was the development of a socioeconomic stratum based on mastery of a foreign language. The relatively small proportion of Somalis (less than 10 percent) with a grasp of such a language—preferably English—had access to government positions and the few managerial or technical jobs in modern private enterprises. Such persons became increasingly isolated from their nonliterate Somali-speaking brethren, but because the secondary schools and most government posts were in urban areas the socioeconomic and linguistic distinction was in large part a rural-urban one.
Even before the 1969 revolution, Somalis had become aware of social stratification and the growing distance, based on language and literacy differences, between ordinary Somalis and those in government. The 1972 decision to designate an official Somali Latin script and require its use in government demolished the language barrier and an important obstacle to rapid literacy growth.
In the years following the institution of the Somali Latin script, Somali officials were required to learn the orthography and attempts were made to inculcate mass literacy—in 1973 among urban and rural sedentary Somalis, and in 1974-75 among nomads. Although a few texts existed in the new script before 1973, in most cases new books were prepared presenting the government's perspective on Somali history and development. Somali scholars also succeeded in developing a vocabulary to deal with a range of subjects from mathematics and physics to administration and ideology.
"The official language of the Republic of Somaliland is Somali, and the second language is Arabic."(art.6 of Constitution 2001)
Almost all Somalis are Sunni Muslims; Islam is the principal faith and state religion. Though traces of pre-Islamic traditional religion exist in Somaliland, Islam is extremely important to the Somali sense of national identity. Many of the Somali social norms come from their religion. For example, men shake hands only with men, and women shake hands with women. Many Somali women cover their heads and bodies with a hijab when they are in public. In addition, Somalis abstain from pork, gambling, and alcohol, and receiving or paying any form of interest. Muslims generally congregate on Friday afternoons for a sermon and group prayer. Accordance with these prohibitions depends on each individual's level of orthodoxy.
Nevertheless there has been Catholic missionary activity. In colonial days, British Somaliland was under the care of the Vicariate Apostolic of Arabia, like the Vicariate Apostolic of the Gallas (including French Somaliland as well as its Ethiopian main territory) confided to the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.
The dress code in Somaliland encompasses traditional western and Islamic dress customs. However, most Somalis in this region prefer traditional Islamic dress code while a minority choose to both wear western-style clothing and cultural tradition. Men and women in Somaliland dress different, therefore they are categorised into two sections:
Men in Somaliland wear trousers or a flowing sarong-like traditional kilt known as macawiis. Also, the majority wear shirts and embroidered shawls. Due to Somaliland's Islamic heritage, some Somalis in this region wear long dresses known in the Arab and Islamic worlds as khameez . Somaliland's climate is mainly hot so many men wear an embroidered cap known as koofiyad. Recent years, many men in Somaliland choose to wear suits and ties to look more modern. This Western dress code is dominant amongst members of the Somali upper class and the government.
Women in Somaliland mainly wear a long, billowing dress worn over petticoats which are known as direh in the Somali language. Some women wear a four-yard cloth tied over shoulder and draped around the waist, it is called coantino. All women in Somaliland must wear a headscarf ( hijab ) due to Somaliland being Muslim. Some women choose to wear the head-to-foot burqa known as the jalabeeb in Somali.
Somalis warmly greet each other with handshakes, but shaking hands with the opposite sex is avoided but some choose to do so. Common verbal greetings include:
Somalis use sweeping hand and arm gestures to dramatize speech. Many ideas are expressed through specific hand gestures. Most of these gestures are performed by women:
Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an unrecognised state in the Horn of Africa, recognised internationally as de jure part of Somalia.
In modern usage, hijab generally refers to various head coverings conventionally worn by many Muslim women. It is similar to the tichel or snood worn by Orthodox Jewish women, certain headcoverings worn by some Christian women, such as the mantilla, apostolnik and wimple, and the dupatta worn by many Hindu and Sikh women. Whilst a hijab can come in many forms, it often specifically refers to a scarf wrapped around the head, covering the hair, neck and ears but leaving the face visible. The use of the hijab has been on the rise worldwide since the 1970s and is viewed by many Muslims as expressing modesty and faith; it has also been worn for purposes of adornment. There is a consensus among Islamic religious scholars that covering the head is either required or preferred, though some Muslim scholars and activists point out that it is not mandated.
The culture of the Republic of Djibouti is diverse, due to the nation's Red Sea location at a crossroads of trade and commerce.
A chādor, also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as, is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and to a lesser extent Tajikistan, as well as in Shia communities in Iraq, Bahrain, and Qatif in Saudi Arabia in public spaces or outdoors.
Islamic clothing is clothing that is interpreted as being in accordance with the teachings of Islam. Muslims wear a wide variety of clothing, which is influenced not only by religious considerations, but also by practical, cultural, social, and political factors. In modern times, some Muslims have adopted clothing based on Western traditions, while others wear modern forms of traditional Muslim dress, which over the centuries has typically included long, flowing garments. Besides its practical advantages in the climate of the Middle East, loose-fitting clothing is also generally regarded as conforming to Islamic teachings, which stipulate that body areas which are sexual in nature must be hidden from public view. Traditional dress for Muslim men has typically covered at least the head and the area between the waist and the knees, while women's islamic dress is to conceal the hair and the body from the ankles to the neck. Some Muslim women also cover their face. However, other Muslims believe that the Quran does not mandate that women need to wear a hijab or a burqa.
The culture of Somalia is an amalgamation of traditions in that were developed independently since the Proto-Somali era. The hypernym of the term Somali from a geopolitical sense is Horner and from an ethnic sense, it is Cushite.
The intimate parts of the human body must, according to Islam, be covered by clothing. Most of modern Islamic scholars agree that the 'awrah of a man is the area between the navel and the knees, and the 'awrah of a woman is the entire body except the face, hands and feet; exposing the 'awrah of the body is unlawful in Islam.
The Somali people are a Cushitic ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The East Cushitic Somali language is the shared mother tongue of ethnic Somalis, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, and they are predominantly Sunni Muslim. Forming one of the largest ethnic groups on the African continent, they cover one of the most expansive landmasses by a single ethnic group in Africa.
The culture of Jordan is based on Arabic and Islamic elements. Jordan stands at the intersection of the three continents of the ancient world, lending it geographic and population diversity. Notable aspects of the culture include the traditional music and clothing of Jordan and interest in sports. These include football and basketball as well as other sports such as equestrianism, fencing, karate, swimming, and table tennis
Libyan culture is a blend of many influences, due to its exposure to many historical eras. Libya was an Italian colony for over four decades, which also had a great impact on the country's culture. Once an isolated society, Libyans succeeded in preserving their traditional folk customs alive today, now recognized by many as the most "pure" extant form of Arab culture found outside the Arabian Peninsula. Libyan culture places strong emphasis on family, tribal bonds, loyalty, solidarity and faithfulness.
The tudong is a style of headscarf, worn as interpretation of the Islamic hijab, prevalent amongst many Muslim women in the Malay-speaking world; Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. Today, the tudong forms part of the standard dress code for many offices in Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as in school uniforms and formal occasions. Though initially considered a conservative form of dress, it is worn today by most moderate Muslim women in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Etiquette in Latin America varies by country and by region within a given country.
The Djiboutians are the people inhabiting or originating from Djibouti. The country is mainly composed of two ethnic groups, the Somali and the Afar. It has many languages - though Somali and Afar are the most widely spoken ones, Arabic and French serve as the official languages. There is a small Djiboutian diaspora in North America, Europe, and Australia.
The Taqiyah, also known as tagiyah or araqchin, is a short, rounded skullcap worn by Muslim men. In the United States and the United Kingdom, it is also referred to as a "kufi". Aside from being an adornment, the taqiyah has deeply ingrained significance in Islamic culture, reflecting the wearer's faith, devotion, and sometimes regional identity. While the taqiyah is deeply rooted in Muslim traditions, its use varies based on cultural context rather than strict religious guidelines.
Arabic weddings are ceremonies of matrimony that contain Arab influences or Arabic culture.
Various styles of head coverings, most notably the khimar, hijab, chador, niqab, paranja, yashmak, tudong, shayla, safseri, carşaf, haik, dupatta, boshiya and burqa, are worn by Muslim women around the world, where the practice varies from mandatory to optional or restricted in different majority Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
Henna is a black dye prepared from the dried and powdered leaves of the henna tree. It has been used since at least the ancient Egyptian period as a hair and body dye, notably the temporary body art of mehndi resulting from the staining of the skin using dyes from the henna plant. After henna stains reach their peak colour, they hold for a few days, then gradually wear off by way of exfoliation, typically within one to three weeks.
Most people in Somaliland speak at least two of the state's three official languages: Somali, Arabic, and second language English. Article 6 of the Constitution of 2001 designates the official languages of Somaliland to be Somali and arabic, though. English is actively spoken and taught in schools.
Women in Somalia form a key part of Somali society, with clearly defined and important roles in the family and structure. This includes Somali women in Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia. From the time of Ismail Urwayni's proselytizing in 1890, until the Dervish State's defeat by British air bombardment in 1920, women in the strip of land from Jidali, Sanaag in the north, to Beledweyne in the south were referred to as Darawiishaad (plural) or Darwiishad (singular).
Thawb or thobe is an Arab dress for the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, also called dishdashah, and kandurah, kandoora or gandurah in varieties of Arabic. A long-sleeved ankle-length traditional robe, it is mainly worn by men in the Arabian Peninsula, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, North Africa, and some countries in East and West Africa, with regional variations in name and style. It is also worn by Muslim men in the Indian subcontinent due to its modest appearance, and is referred to as jubbah. Depending on local traditions, a thawb can be worn in formal or informal settings; in the Gulf states thobes are the main formal attire for men. The term "thobe" is used is also used in some varieties of Arabic to refer to women's attire, such as in Palestine and Sudan.
