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BEDOUINSTAR-LOREINSINAIANDTHENEGEV
ByCLINTONBAILEY
I
Untilthe twentiethcenturythe Bedouin oftheSinaipeninsulaand theNegevdesertwereno lessdependent uponknowledgeoftheheavenlybodiesthan theirnomadic ancestors ofcountlessgenerationsin the Arabianpeninsula.Thestarswereasvital to a Bedouintryingto findhiswayinalmostfeaturelessstretchesofthe desert waste astheywere to a sailornavigatingtheopensea.Moreover,the Bedouin neededstable indications of the seasonsof theyearsothattheycouldregulatethe annualactivitiesnecessaryforagricultureandlivestockraising;theonlycalendartheyknew was the Muslim lunarcalendar,themonths of which rotateamongthe seasonsof theyear,attimesappearingin thewinter,at others in thespring,summer,or autumn.Theyfound theseindications in thepositionsofthe stars.Finally,theirpreoccupationwith theheavenlybodies and theirnightlyexposuretostarryskiesnaturallyled theinhabitantsofthedesert,likemanyotherpeoples,tofind,inthe movementsof thestars,explanationsfor the naturaldisastersto whichtheywerealwayssovulnerable.Inthe twentiethcentury,however,despitethe fact thatBedouininSinaiandtheNegevcontinue tospendtheirnightsunder the samestarstheyarenolongerfamiliarwiththem. ContactwithWesterncivilization,throughtheintermediaryofeitherOttoman, British,Egyptian,orIsraeliauthorities,hasgraduallyexposedthem,defacto,tosolarcalendars,in eitherGregorianorArabicform,and this hasvirtuallyremoved theirdependenceon the starsforeconomic activities.Thus,asknowledgethatis not neededforsurvivalamongthe unletteredBedouin isreadilydiscarded,sobytheearlytwentiethcenturystar-lorebecamethepossessionofonlythe olderpeople(an-ndsal-kubdr),whoultimatelydied.Therefore,onlytracesofwhatwas once commonknowledgecan nowbe foundamongthepresentgenerationof 'oldpeople'who,whentheythemselves wereyoung,heard bitsandpiecesfromtheirelders.Inorderto understand thesebitsandpieces,Ibegantogatherthemandarrangethem.Ididthis,betweenSeptember1971andAugust1972,whileon fieldtripsinSinaiand theNegevwhere I wascollectingBedouinpoetry.1The resultsareincludedinthepresentpaper.FortunatelymuchBedouinstar-lorehad beenpreservedinproverbs,andwas used tocreateimageryinpoems,bothof whichforms lentthemselves tomemorization.However,whilemen whowere childrenbetweenthe turn of thecenturyand the 1920'smayhave heardtheseproverbsandpoemsat the time
1Since1970,Ihave beencollectingandstudyingBedouinpoetryinSinaiandtheNegevonbehalfof theInstituteforDesertResearch,MidrashatSde-Boker,in theNegev.
 
BEDOUIN STAR-LORE IN SINAI AND THE NEGEV
andmemorizedthem,theywere notusuallyapprisedoftheprecisemeaning.Thereforetheirexplanationsregardingdifferentstarsand theirmovements,orregardingtheactualmeaningof thesayingsin whichthestar-lorewaspreserved,were often various andconflicting;attimes,pureconjecture. Similarly,theyoftenconveyedthesayingsthemselvesinexactly,and in anumber of versions.Toconfuse thepicturefurther,writers on Bedouinlife-inparticularMusil,Shuqayr,andMurray2-alsorelatedimpreciseversions ofBedouinstar-lore,astheythemselves heardthem from theBedouin informants whomtheyhadknown.Isoon realized that in ordertounderstandwhat the Bedouin saw in thepositionsandmovementsofthestars,Ihadto havepreciseastronomical datafor thesephenomena.These werereadilyfurnishedtomebyMr. MordechaiHacke,theDirector of the LaskerPlanetarium,inTel-Aviv,andbyMr. MichaelJacobson,a Ph.D.candidateinastronomyat CornellUniversity,who wasworkingin theObservatoryatMitzpe-Ramon,Israel,in the autumn of1971.Inaddition,I had toacquaintmyselfwith theeconomicprocesses-date-palmcultivation,winter-graincultivation,and animalhusbandry-fortheregulationof whichthe Bedouin ofSinaiand theNegevsoughtguidancefromthestars.Furnished with theaboveknowledge,Iwas able to discover thelogicofBedouinstar-loreandputthefragmentaryinformationwhichwas availableinto order.Mostof theBedouin star-lore that Iencounteredwas related to meby10Bedouininformants,residentsof SinaiandtheNegev;menrangingfrom 50to 80yearsofage,in1971-2.Theywere'Ayd'Awwad Jum'ah of theMuzaynahSakhanah,3a fisherman in theGulf ofAqaba,datecultivator,andgoatraiser;
2
G.W.Murray,SonsofIshmael, London, 1935,164-6;AloisMusil,ArabiaPetraea,
III,
Wien,1908,passim;AloisMusil,ThemannersandcustomsoftheRwalaBedouins,NewYork, 1928,passim;NaumBey Shuqayr,Ta'rzkhSind wa'I-'Arab,Cairo,1916,356-7.3Transliteration note.Ihaveattemptedto maintainacloseidentitybetweenthespokenBedouinwordanditsClassicalArabiccounterpart,in so far as suchacounterpartexists. Ingeneral,mytransliteration is consistent with that used in BSOAS. None the less somenoteswillclarify aspectsofBedouinpronounciationreflectedinthe transliteration.A.(1)dhrepresentsbothOandlJand ispronouncedas theemphaticcorrelateof' th'in'this'(2)dhrepresentsSandispronouncedas'th'in 'this'(3)threpresents?andispronouncedas'th'in'think'(4)grepresents
j
(exceptin the rootJ,)and ispronouncedasin'g''give'B.Diphthongs:(1)awrepresentsjxandispronouncedaseither'o'(asin'go')or'ow'(asin'cow')(2) ayrepresents5xand ispronouncedeither as in'day'or as'i'in'pine'C.(1)theArabic hamzais shownbythe mark'(asingabd'il)(2)this markis notused with theopeningvowelof a word(thusastabd)orbetween apre-positionandadefinite article inliaison(thuslil-bint instead ofli'l-bint)D.The Arabic tashdid is shown as adoubleletter(asinfakkar)E.theArabic tdmarbfutahssimplyshownas h(ifsilent)andt(ifpronounced)F.theArabictanwfn is shown as:an, in,unG. thethirdpersonsingularpronominalsuffix is shown as(i)h (as,farasih'hismare';ma'ih'with him')
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CLINTON BAILEY
Hamdan AbfSalamahAbfMas'iid of theMuzaynahDararmah,a camelraiser;Salim SalimIbnJazi of theTarabinHasablih,a notedguide,camelraiser,anddatecultivator;'AwdahSulayman'Aliyanof theAhaywatHamadat,agoatraiser;ZmayliSa'id Salimof the'AlaygatZmayliyin,a camel raiserandfisherman inthe GulfofSuez;HIusaynSalimHasan of the'AyaydahSalatnah,agoatraiserand datecultivator;SulaymanNassar al-HirshoftheBayadhiyinal-Hrush,adate cultivatorandagriculturist;Muslih SalimIbn 'AmiroftheTiyaha'Awamrah,anagriculturistanddatecultivator;Misa Hasanal-'Atawnah of theTiyahaal-'Atawnah,anagriculturist;andHmaydas-Sudaniofthe'AzazmahSarahin,acamel andgoatraiser.TheBedouinstar-lorewhichIhavecollectedinSinaiandtheNegevrevealshowmanyancientBedouintraditionshavepersisteddowntothetwentiethcenturyin asocietywhichdidnot recordits traditions inwriting.Thenamesofstars,forexample,goback topre-Islamictimes,andlines ofpoetrycontainingstar-lore havebeenattributed,bytheinformants,totheepicofthe BaniHilaltribe that wascomposedshortlyafter theirmigrationfrom ArabiatoNorth Africa in the tenthandeleventh centuries.It alsoshedslighton theextentto whichthere was cultural communicationbetweentheeasterndeserts(ofSyria,Jordan,and theArabianPeninsula)andSinai andtheNegev.Forexample,severalpoems containingmentionof starswhichI recordedin Sinaiand theNegevare,inreality,alteredversionsofpoemsthatAloisMusilheardinTransjordanandSyria earlyin thiscentury,andwhichhetranscribed,intheir narrativecontexts,in ArabiaPetraeaand Themannersand customsoftheRwalaBedouins. The same booksalso containversionsofsomeoftheproverbsthatI haverecorded.IIPolaris andCanopusEven in the late twentiethcenturymanyBedouinare familiarwithPolaris(called al-Jidi)andCanopus(Suhayl),thetwo starsthat indicatethe directionsnorth andsouth.When aBedouin,composingapoem,wantedtorelatethathewastravellingsouth-east,forexample,hesaid:Ahutt al-Jidi'aldwirkil-matiyyahW'adhrTaharhd 'anSuhayl al-yimain4'IputPolarisonthethighofmymountWhileshieldingherthroat fromCanopussouth'.
4The
poemto which theselinesbelongoriginatedin1877,accordingtoMusil,whotranscribedit inManners,182-6.It wasrecitedto metwiceinSinai:by'AwdahSulayman'AliyanoftheAlaywat;andbyHusaynSalimHasanof the'Ayaydah.The two Sinaiticversions of thepoemvariedsomewhat,but thepresentlineswereconveyedidentically.In eachthe rider wasshieldinghismount's throat(adhr!naharhd;i.e.steeringitaway)fromCanopus,a clear indicationthathewas nottravellingdue south.Musil,however,conveysthe actioninotherwords,translatingthelines asiftheriderwere indeedtravellingsouth.Musil'serror,however,is evidentfrom areadingofthe text of thestorythatwas relatedtohimwith thepoem.Itspecifiesthat theauthorcomposedthepoemwhiletravelling'from JauftoHIayil;i.e. south-east.Likewise,if Polariswereindeedreflectedonathighofthecamel,the latter couldnotbetravellingduesouth(cf.Manners,355).
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