A Fur farmer with his throwing stick (Fur: “dolfa”, Arabic: “sofrog”) and his spears (Fur: “Kor”, Arabic: “harba”) in front of his sweet potato (Fur: “bambai”, Arabic: “bambai”) field.
Note that the acasia albida (Fur: “kurul”, Arabic: “haraz”) trees shed the leaves in the rainy season.
Wadi Azum area, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Fur farmer watering his field of melons (Fur: “burto”). The water is lifted from a shallow well (Fur: “ro”) by a “shadouf” (a water lifting device) and brought in a calabash (Fur: “kere”) to the field (Fur: “rei”).
Wadi Azum area, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1966
Circumcision of boys is an important ceremony in Fur communities and lasts for several days. It involves consumption of local beer (Fur: “kira”) and prestigious food like meat (Fur: “nino”), and involves festive activities with dancing, most importantly the ritualized “dance of the gazelle”, (Fur: “ferangabie”). The songs sung by the women contain very explicit references to sexual intercourse and the female genitalia (Fur: “sendi”).
Amballa, Lower Wadi Azum, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Fur women are fetching water from a shallow pond by means of calabashes (Fur: “kere”) and pouring it into clay pots (Fur: “tawu”) that they carry on their heads back to the village. Activities connected with food preparation like grinding grains, collecting firewood, fetching water (Fur: “koro”) are considered female work.
Lower Wadi Azum, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
The camp site of a Fur farmer who has succeeded in accumulating cash for investment in a sufficient number of cattle. Cattle thrive best when they are moved seasonally between different ecological zones. Successful Fur farmers therefore prefer to establish themselves as nomads like the Baggara Arabs when they have enough cows (Fur: “ko”). Note the tent made of straw mats (Fur and Arabic: “birish”) similar to those used by the Baggara nomads.
Lower Wadi Azum, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A woman outside her tent in the camp of nomadized Fur.
Wadi Azum area, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A group of nomadized Fur resting under the shadow of a tree.
Wadi Azum, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Baggara Arab man and child riding an ox on their migration from the dry season grazing area in western Darfur to their own rainy season “dar” (homeland in Arabic) in Id el Ghannam, southern Darfur. Note the lance (Arabic: “shalaqaya”) he is carrying.
Amballa, Lower Wadi Azum.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Baggara Arab woman riding an ox on the group’s movement from the dry-season Fur area to the Baggara rainy season areas further south in Id el Ghannam.
Wadi Azum area, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Baggara woman loading the family’s household utensils on an ox, preparing to move from the dry season grazing of Western Darfur area to the rainy season areas in Southern Darfur.
Lower Wadi Azum, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
A Baggara group moving to a new dry season camp in the Fur area along Wadi Azum. Note the lance (Arabic: “shalaqaiya”) carried by the man. This is a typical weapon used by the Baggara.
Near the town of Zalingi, Western Darfur.
Photo: Gunnar Haaland, 1965
Darfur Before 