The Waswahili Community Trust UK
(Wadhamini wa Jumuiya ya Waswahili)
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The Waswahili Community Trust UK |
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Traditionally, the Swahilis are people of the sea. They live off the sea and have always had the sea as their protective barrier. Waswahili are 24/7/365 fish eaters. They eat fish during Kaskazi and they eat fish during Kusi.
They eat fish during the dry season and they eat fish during the rainy season. They fish by hook, line and sinker and they fish by net. They fish by seine net and they fish by gill-nets. They fish by purse nets and they fish by scoop nets.
They fish by shore traps and they fish by bottom traps. They fish from dhows and they fish from the shore. They fish in the reefs and they fish in the estuaries. They eat fish fresh and they eat fish sun-dried or smoked.
With technological advances, they also eat fish frozen. Such then, is the story of the Waswahili and their daily relationship to fish. But if the English Man does not live by bread alone, the Swahili Man does not live by fish alone!
But even biologists see that while the focal point of environmental backdrop is that of the sea, the Swahilis have a complex rituals connected with both the sea, the land, the weather. There are rituals for child birth, for marriages and for death.
These rituals are essentially African with a superimposed veneer of Islam where relevant.Among these rituals are always those that are associated with the seasons and the implications of these seasons on the general economy of Swahililand.
The arrival of dhows of different nationalities and from different parts of Swahililand always provided occasions for real joy. Which brings us to the next topic:THE SWAHILI AS A MERCANTILE CIVILIZATION.
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Copyright© March 2003: The Waswahili Community Trust (UK)
Registered Charity:1083065