Yemen’s oral history (Part 2)

As part of the Yemen Observer’s ongoing series on the use of oral tradition and various other aspects of culture, we now bring various parts of this delicate, yet very essential part to Yemeni culture. 

Through the eyes of journalist Mohammed Ali Thamer, the use of our oral history and public heritage is considered to be a vast area whose limits can not be exhausted because it constitutes the entire human, physical, spiritual and intellectual legacy. He also adds that it includes the tales, fables, legends, myths, dances in addition to physical parts like jewelry and other artifacts. 

Jan Joyce, a European scientist, says that allegiance to ancestors is not in keeping their stones and earth, but in keeping lit the candle that they inflamed.

This view captures the delicateness of the issue at hand extremely well. As the Ministry of Culture is doing little to protect the diminishing transmission of such culture, the system is alive as a small flame on a candle, ready to go out with the numerous other forces at play.

The Yemeni public heritage is diversified not only due to the difference in geography and culture, but it is also because of the many different human and cultural heritages which exist in the same geographical area, signifying the different artistic humanitarian, shapes and colors of the same artifacts. These superb features still continue to coexist in Yemeni urban and rural areas. 

Through touring of the market in Old Sana’a known as Souk al-Milh and its branches, the legacy passed down is disclosed with its diversified features. Another tour to other governorates reveals another type of fragile oral culture realized in dances, songs and traditions of marriage. 

Each of these parts of history may partially or totally differ from one area to another. 

For example, a groom in old Sana’a goes alone to his wife’s home without accompanying his bride on the third day to show that he has become one of the family, who can visit them at any time.  On the other hand the groom’s family goes to the bride’s home on the seventh day to check that their daughter is safe in her new home.

Amatal-razaq Jahaf has also spoke about the importance of this historical heritage. “Any deep rooted civilization is demonstrated by the customs of its people’s behavior, such as the songs which reflect the social values,” he says. “An example of this is the marriage march songs, which shows the splendid, social and anthropological values calling for love and cooperation. However, this differs from region to another, for instance Taiz’s traditions are different to those of Sana’a or any other area.”

Heritage is immense, varied and diversified. One can recognize this in the cloths embroidered with pieces, ranging from silver and agate to pieces of shells and corals according to the area. 

The house fronts ornamental methods differ in Zabid and Shibam to those at old Sana’a, Hadramout or Jibla. The Yemeni decor is eye catching, filling every space however small it may be, on walls, doors, windows or shelves. The aesthetics’ love did not come out recently; it is deep-seated in Yemeni blood, due to accumulated civilizations for periods extending for centuries and centuries. 

The women who embroider the dresses are not educated or trained, but the visual subconscious memory, inherits the natures facts, be it an arid nature as it appears in the rich ornaments of Shabwa’s arid desert, the intermingling geometrical shapes which tell of the complexity of mountainous areas’ life. The plains’ ornaments are simple and unsophisticated. 

The ornaments are a sign of amazing awareness of the surrounding environment and an unlimited power of exploitation of their elements. 

Amatal-razaq noticed that the uniqueness of the Yemeni heritage distinguishes it from their neighbors, because of the richness of the Yemeni ornaments, yet the costal uniforms in Tehama and those of the gulf area are alike, while those in al-Mahara are identical to Salalah’s city in Oman due to the geographical closeness.

Arwa Abdo Osman, the public heritage house manager, ensures the importance of historical heritage preservation, protection and restoration, as well. She points out that it demands deep study, instead of the shallow lauding which leads to ignorance and unawareness of our legacy. 

“Our heritage can not be restored by the insignificant glorification of ancestors, but through the deep unearthing of by the deep digging into our past Islamic, and other civilizations,” she says.

Arwa thinks that there is no great difference between the Yemeni heritage and the neighboring countries because of the open borders which enriched the common collective memory’s heritage of Arabia. 

The public heritage manager concluded that the abstract and verbal heritage, which are threatened to extinction in some areas requires that efforts should be joined to avoid the loss of such valuable wealth, because the elements of the heritage are glimpses of the public spiritual evolution of man, which developed through his spiritual, public etiquettes, verbal literature songs, traditions and religious knowledge and practices.

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