Local traditions and culture in Al Wilayah ash Shamaliyah

4 more images

I was very interested when taken for breakfast at a house near Merowe. Ever since we reached Korti, the white-washed houses in the villages had caught my attention, and I noticed that sme seemed quite large. We in fact visited two houses . The first one we went to was like a rabbit warren [as was the second too] with different courtyards each with a number of rooms. I presume there was a guest area, where my husband and our travelling companions were taken; a women's area, perhaps for female guests; then the family quarters, and maybe areas for married children.
I asked if I could take some pictures and was taken a short tour. Apart from the area where I had been sitting and had breakfast , there must have been a cooking area though I didn't see it, and also sleeping quarters.
In the courtyard where I was there was a store with a pigeon loft above it, a place for storing water, a small area for goats, a small household mill for grinding their wheat, a small local style toilet, and ....I declined to visit the chickens etc.
The friendliness and hospitality was unbelievable. I don't even know how the people were connected to our companions, but I shared a large breakfast with the daughters of the house, met their mother and another sister,and spent the time joking and laughing. they even wanted me to stay the night so that we could go to their plantation. But that was not possible.

Hospitality is ingrained in the Sudanese, though in Khartoum nowadays it is less obvious than 30 years ago. But in the provinces it is alive and well.