**~~Figure 1. Photograph of Old Abu Hor in 1962. Source: Riad, M. and Abdel-Rasoul, K. (2014), A journey in the time of Nubia.~~**
Abu Hor extended for ten kilometers and included twenty-three hamlets
built on the rugged lands at the eastern and western fringes of the
valley, leaving the narrow plain for agriculture. These hamlets extended
thinly along the Nile and were separated from each other by topographic
features like *khor*[^1] and steep hills. During the summer, as the
water level of the Nile used to recede, *khor* lands became visible and
people often moved between the hamlets by donkey or on foot. In winter,
the water of the Aswan reservoir filled the valley and backed up into
the *khor*s, making hamlets sites like peninsulas, so small felucca
sailboats ferried the people across the hamlets.
Since most social relations were associated with hamlets, the village
lacked the real structure of a social unit. Even so, the village had a
role of cohesiveness. It served as an administrative unit under the
supervision of a governmental appointed mayor (Arabic: *omda*) whose
guesthouse was the place where the people of Abu Hor gathered to make
crucial decisions that concerned the entire village. The old village had
three primary schools, a telegraph office, and a health center. These
facilities were distributed among the different hamlets, and served not
only the people of Abu Hor, but also the adjacent villages.
**~~Figure 2. Map of the hamlets of Abu Hor village in 1930. Source: United Nations Archives at Geneva, Survey of Egypt, Kalabsha, 1935.~~**
The people of Abu Hor belonged to seven tribes, or maximal lineages,
which were divided among major lineages distributed over hamlets. Each
hamlet (Arabic: *nag'*) consisted of minor lineages forming a
patrilineal descent group that had lived in the hamlet for generations
and shared kinship ties. The *nag'* created a sense of belonging, as
people used to refer to themselves by their hamlet and particular
descent group, which were believed to express pride and distinctive
personalities.
The *nag'* served as the main social unit that formed the Nubian
society. It was the actual unit of community life that was organized
through propinquity and kinship bonds and carried important social
obligations; such as endogamous marriage, purchase on credit, mutual aid
in times of need, and taking care for the families of migrating men. The
*nag'* served as the appropriate domain for women to participate in
social life. While men were more concerned with village affairs and
could move freely between hamlets and villages, women were restricted to
their *nag'* where they practiced social and economic activities,
ranging from subsistence farming and raising livestock to participating
in *nag'* events such as weddings, funerals, and religious rituals.
The *nag'* offered the pattern of co-residence that maintained the
isolated and conservative life of the Nubians so as the foreigner could
be identified easily. Although there was no structural plan, the *nag'*
was a planned settlement, designed by its occupants according to their
needs and culture. The placement of the dwellings was based on family
ties and the natural environment as well. It was customary for
individuals to build their houses on any even tract of land adjacent to
their relatives in order to have help nearby in case of need. The
dwellings that made up the *nag'* followed the natural contours of the
rocky fringes of the valley. The houses that overlooked the Nile were
detached, or semi---detached, forming clustered terraces, while the
houses that extended inland were freestanding and grouped together
around an open area. Usually there were three or four houses in each of
these arrangements. In the center of the *nag'*, there was a large open
space where the mosque and few shops were located. The communal
guesthouse (Arabic: *sabeel*) which used for the *nag'* men gatherings,
entertaining and housing male guests from other hamlets or villages was
also placed in the central open space. Each *nag'* also maintained a
cemetery and a shrine for the local saint in its hinterland.
The traditional house in Old Nubia was not only a shelter, but it was
also the center of most Nubian rites. The design of the house had a
strong connection to the natural environment, especially to the
topography and the climate. It also reflected Nubian social norms and
the economic condition of the proprietor. A typical house in old Abu Hor
might be composed of a big walled courtyard with rooms built at the
northern part of the courtyard, while the main entrance and the loggia
were often located in the southern part and were open to the north in
order to allow the best possible access to north wind. Livestock
enclosures were found in the southern part of the courtyard as well, but
with a separate entrance. Guest rooms were not common in Abu Hor houses,
however, the entrance hall and the bench (Arabic: *mastaba*) built near
the entrance gate served the purpose of the guest room. The entrance
hall was a transitional zone between the semi-public, male domain
outside, and the private, female domain inside the house. The courtyard
was the vital part of the traditional Nubian house. It was not just an
empty space; rather, it was the hub for all female activity such as
baking *dooka* bread, grinding cereals, and raising livestock. The
courtyard also served as a guest area for women to meet, especially on
the occasion of weddings, funerals, and other events.
**~~Figure 3. Plan of a house in Abu Hor village in 1964. Source: Jaritz, H. (1973), Notes on Nubian Architecture.~~**
Nubian ceremonies are the most noticeable and distinct feature of the
Nubian culture. It has reflected its rich and intermingled history
through the ages. As Muslims, the Nubians celebrated the known Islamic
feasts; *Eid al-fitr* or the Small Feast and *Eīd**al-adaha* or the
Large Feast. In these occasions, the hamlet (*nag'*) was the ritual unit
where all rites were performed. After, the Eid prayer, the men used to
make a procession to each house in their own hamlet to congratulate
their relatives for the feast. However, the Nubians had two ceremonies
that can be considered as distinctively Nubian; the wedding ceremonies,
and the local Islamic celebrations *moulid*.
Marriage rituals varied between seven and fourteen days in length; the
rituals used to start right after a new marriage was arranged and
announced, all the women and young females living in the *nag'* were
expected to assemble in the house of the bride\'s family to assist in
grinding the wheat to make *shaʼreya*[^2], while the men would visit the
groom to congratulate him.
Before marriage, the bride, dressed in her bridal gown and accompanied
by an elderly female relative, had to visit all the houses around the
*nag'* to announce the day for starting the wedding ceremonies. In turn,
the women offered gifts of *karej*[^3] or a china plate. Then the bride
would continue on to visit all the major saints\' shrines in the village
and to *Abu Asha* shrine in the adjacent village, *Murwaw*. The groom,
dressed in his bridal attire, carrying a whip, riding a camel and
accompanied by the *arras*[^4], had to visit all the guesthouses in the
village to invite the men of other hamlets to his wedding. Wedding
ceremonies were occasions for three days and nights of feasting and
dancing in both the bride\'s and the groom\'s houses. On the morning of
the wedding day (the third day of wedding ceremonies), the relatives and
friends of the groom would bring his *sandouq**jally* and hung the
*kojara* in the bride\'s house. After the guests had eaten the *fatta*
lunch at the groom\'s house, they would form a procession with the
groom\'s family to the local shrine before going to the bride\'s house,
passing in front of the *nag'* houses while sessions of singing and
dancing were carried on accompanied by gunshots and cries of joy.
**~~Figure 4. A picture of sandouq jally.~~**
The local Saints (Arabic: *sheikh*) have an important ritual ceremony
called *moulid*, a festival day designated as the *sheikh's* birthday,
usually on the fifteenth of the Islamic month of *Shaʼbān*. The *moulid*
was both a religious and social occasion that was celebrated by men,
women and children, and reunited many of the city migrants with their
relatives in the village. The whole *nag'* used to combine their
financial resources in order to host the ceremonies, demonstrating their
generosity and prestige among other hamlets. From the early morning of
the *moulid* day, boatloads of people from neighboring villages along
with the village residents made long processions to the square of the
saint\'s shrine, where the men sang *zikr* and danced the *kaff* dance,
the women offered sacrificial goats and sheep to be slaughtered, cooked
and eaten in the communal feast afterwards, and the children enjoyed the
joyful atmosphere and bought sweets and toys from travelling vendors.
