سكان البادية .. كتاب في ربوع سورية

Badia residents:

The desert is the vast field for raising sheep and camels. This was and still is with the change imposed by modern global developments during this century, especially in its second half, after the car became a means of transportation and transportation to replace camels and horses that were carrying out this task, to reduce even scarcity in the present day. And whoever wanders the length and breadth of the desert today does not find more than 1000 camels. However, the number of sheep is steadily increasing in the Badia, and they include about 95% of the sheep herd in Syria, i.e. about 10 million heads, after their number did not exceed five million heads in the early days.

The sixties of this century, and this increase in their number is due to the state's interest in them and the contribution to securing a portion of the fodder they need, especially in the lean years, as dozens of fodder distribution centers spread in the desert. Sheep are raised and cared for by people who have mastered this profession since ancient times and are still known as Bedouins who live a distinguished Bedouin life with their mobile homes imposed on them by the conditions of the desert, which is barren in summer and thriving with its bright spring.

The Bedouins in the desert are divided into many clans, each of which is headed by a chief known as the sheikh, and each clan is divided into teams, clans, and thighs. And each clan or several clans reside in a specific area of ​​the desert and generally move in a specific area for their movement, so the Bedouin clans differed from one governorate to another and from one spot to another according to the seasons - Figure (36) showing the areas of concentration of the most important clans in the Syrian Badia and the destinations of their movements..the following A brief presentation of the most important Bedouin clans, their locations, and their main spread in the governorates of the Syrian Arab Republic, parts of which enter the Badia: the eastern and southeastern countryside of Damascus: the clans of Al-Rawla, Al-Ashaja’a, Al-Sawalmeh, Al-Abdullah, Al-Jamlan, and Al-Ghayath. East and Northeast of Jabal Al-Arab: Al-Masa’id, Al-Sharafat, Al-Azamat, Al-Shanabila, Al-Hassan, Al-Sardiya, and Al-Jawabra clans. - Homs: Al-Rawla, Al-Sabaa, Al-Ahsana, Banu Khalid, Al-Fawa'ra, Al-Naim, and Al-Aqeedat clans. Hama: The clans of the Seven, Al-Aqidat, Banu Ezz, Al-Turki, Al-Bashakam, Al-Hadiyun, and Al-Naim. Aleppo and Idlib: The clans of Al-Mawali, Al-Hadiyun, Al-Bulil, Al-Waldah, Al-Baqqara, Al-Bu Sha’ban, Al-Bukhamis, Al-Abubna and Al-Wald Ali.

Deir Ezzor, the Baggara, Al-Aqeedat, Al-Bukhabur, Al-Bakir and Al-Jahish clans. Al-Raqqa: Al-Busha’ban, Al-Afadala, Al-Waldah, Al-Baqqara, Al-Mashhour and Al-Fadaan Al-Hasakah: Shammar, Tai’, Al-Jabour, Qais, Al-Sharabiyun and Al-Baqqara clans.

The nomadic Bedouins live in houses made of goat hair, generally black, with dark chestnut ripples, and they consist of a large rectangle composed of long pieces called flats sewn one next to the other, and the roof is based on columns whose height ranges from one meter in al-Kharboush to three meters in the houses Big bosses. The houses are tied with ropes of hemp tied to pegs driven into the ground. The sizes of the verses and their names differ according to the number of columns - with the exception of the two columns at the two ends of the verse -; A house with one pillar is known as a pole, and if it is small and without a middle pillar, it is called a kharbush, and a house with two pillars is called a maqour, and with three pillars it is known as a triangle... Thus, the square, the makhums, the mesawed, and the subba. The house of poetry is divided from the inside into two parts: the quarter (al-Shaqq) for men and the forbidden (al-Khadr) for women. These two sections are separated by a barrier made of reeds called the zarab. In some adult houses, a large piece of colored woven wool called the al-Khudra falls over the zarab.

The Bedouins replace their black houses in the hot summer with white cotton houses to reduce the brunt of the intense heat on them because they reflect a greater proportion of the solar radiation falling on them than the black houses. The Bedouin wears a distinctive dress from the urban dress, and the women's dress is more distinguished, and it differs distinctly between some clans.

The Bedouins generally have two trips a year known as naja; The first is done from the heart

The desert towards al-Mamoura in the late spring, after the land dries up, the pastures dry up, and the surface water becomes scarce. Most of them head west to the plains of Homs, Hama, and Aleppo to feed their sheep with the remains of agricultural crops and abundant herbs. To the province of Al-Hasakah, and this trip is known as Al-Tagharib. The second trip is the return trip to the depths of the desert (Al-Tashariq). she

A collection of water from the Syrian Badia in its Levantine sector contains many green oases in which various crops are grown due to the availability of groundwater in them and their proximity to the surface, and because they are the depressions of the higher regions surrounding them, which provides an opportunity for the emergence of some water springs, and these oases are inhabited by settled people who live on agriculture In addition to raising animals, especially sheep, in the valleys surrounding their oases. Among the oases we mention:

Palmyra Oasis: north and northwest of it is the historic city of Palmyra, and at its northwest end is the ancient mineral spring of Afqa. Palmyra oasis is rich in different types of dates derived from its tall palm trees. It also includes many small-scale crops, such as wheat, barley, and vegetables that are irrigated from well water. And the historic Palmyra, we had been mentioned in one of our tours in the province of Homs. Among the other oases that enter the Palmyra basin, we mention the Al-Sukhna oasis, to the northeast of the city of Palmyra, about 40 km, and the Al-Arak oasis located between the two oases of Al-Sukhna and Palmyra.

On the Sokhna-Rusafa dirt road, there are also two oases