http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3052&ed=180&edid=180
Sharing Water A Model of Cooperation Rooted in Traditions and Customs
By Nabeel Alkam
I used to feel very happy when my mother asked me to go and check whether the water wells were open or closed. The trip to the wells presented me with the opportunity to escape the responsibility of taking care of my little brothers and sisters, and to enjoy the scene of women carrying the buckets of water on their heads after filling them from one of our village wells that provide 1,500 villagers with water. I deliberately tarried on my way back home and stood to enjoy the scene before me: Groups of women standing around the wells, one carrying a jar filled with water on her head, another trying to put her jar on the back of an adamant donkey that refused to be burdened by the weight; in the end she managed to tame the donkey with the help of another. The women talked and their voices mixed so that I could not make out what they were talking about. I waited at one of the wells either because one of the girls I knew had come with her mother to fill her jar of water or because the well was close to my home. I looked to see what was happening: One woman helped another carry her water jar and put it on her head on top of a mudawaraii made especially to steady the jar and protect the head from the pressure caused by the 17 litres of water held by the jar. Another woman drew water in a bucket tied to a rope. She held on to the rope with all her strength lest the bucket fall down into the well. A third woman asked another if she had a khattafiii because her bucket might fall into the well and she would have to use the khattaf to look for it under the water. The other women waiting their turn to fill their buckets exchanged idle talk about the events that had taken place in the village.
The water wells were scattered on both sides of the village or close to its streets, and the keys to them were kept with trusted village elders. Sometimes the keys were kept with those living close to the wells. The keeper of the key opened the well twice or three times a week, early in the morning.
Like all other women in the village, my mother used to wait eagerly to perform the daily chore of carrying water from the well to the house.
When I grew up, I realised that each of the water wells was like a joint stock company owned by extended families. Each well consisted of 24 shares and each share was called a "jar." The shares were named after the jars used to carry and keep water before the invention of cylindrical tin barrels. The shares or jars were distributed among families in proportion to their contribution to the required capital for the digging of the well. My 82-year-old mother told me that the wells were inherited and that she did not know exactly when they were established. But each well had a name and an address. There was Al-Suwaida Well, for example, located near our house. And close by were Al-Tibn, Al-Zared, Al-Hamoolah, Al-Omda, Al-Tawil, and Baba Al-Jame’ wells. Small wells were called Al-Jee’ah, such as Jee’ah Dar Jabara, Jee’ah Bab Al-Jame’. Wells derived their names either from a characteristic they had or from the names of their owners.
Our family, I mean my grandfather’s family, had a well in the front yard of the house. The family also had shares in other wells. It owned a quarter of Al-Hamoolah Well, equal to six jars of water, two jars in Al-Tibn Well, and one and a half jars in Al-Suwaida Well. As I said before, the wells were opened twice or three times a week, and each time a well was open the family took water in exchange for their shares or jars. Those who had one and a half shares took one jar the first time and two jars the second time. In the case of our family, my mother used to carry eleven jars at a time and more than thirty jars in a week.
The wells were classified according to the cleanliness of the water they contained. Less clean water was used for domestic animals whereas clean water was used for ablution, the washing of clothes, and bathing. The wells remained until the middle of the 1960s but later they gradually started to disappear.
Potable water came from another source: the spring on top of the mountain near our village. The water reached the village through metal pipelines that had been installed in the 1920s. Water taps were attached to the pipelines and women used to fill their jars from them. This was called the water fountain. The mountain and the fountain were owned by the village population. In 1948, when several families moved into the village, they became co-owners of the water fountain.
In summertime when water became scarce and failed to meet the basic daily needs of people, and in order to avoid a monopoly over the water fountain by any of the families, the early ancestors who had lived in the village created a custom that became part of the consolidated traditions of the village. The custom was that the villagers met and elected a reliable and trustworthy villager to oversee water distribution. The method of distribution was based on a simple but effective idea. The population of the village consisted of two extended families with an equal number of family members. The families were called Al-Hamayel and Abu Awwad. Each extended family used the water fountain for one whole day. In the 1950s there were 1,440 people living in the village, and during that time 720 people used the water fountain for 24-hour time periods. This group of people was also divided into subgroups, each consisting of 30 or 45 people. Groups of 30 used the water fountain for one hour per day whereas groups of 45 people used it for an hour and a half because the result of dividing 720 people by 24 hours equals 30 people per hour - an average of two minutes for every individual, including newborns. The overseer of water distribution prepared lists of names of the families and the number of family members, and he was responsible for dividing them into subgroups of 30 or 45; but in the end each group was required to have no more than 720 people. The overseer also made sure that women who carried water were in unison and harmony.
The shares of water were divided equally among all villagers. Likewise there was equality in sharing time. For instance, the subgroup that collected water at 18:00 would start at 19:30 the next time and so forth until the whole cycle of day and night came to an end.
The villagers followed what was referred to as Arab timing, which regarded 12 noon as the evening hour, marking the beginning of a new day. During summer or winter time the evening hour was exactly 12 noon, and the changes in the length of the day and night were due to the changes in the hour of sunrise and not in the hour of sunset.
At that time watches were rare and were owned solely by men - only pocket watches were used. Women would ask one of the men about the time when the first subgroup had to hand over the water fountain to the next group. When I was a little kid, I would often hear one of the men telling a woman, "Ten minutes remain until you take your turn at the water fountain." Sometimes she would be told, "By the time you reach the fountain it will be your turn." The watch was like a referee and by referring to it, subgroups handed over the water fountain to each other even if they had not yet had their fill of water.
Population growth constituted the main problem in the village. Every two or three years the village elders conducted a census and recalculated the water shares, dividing the total population by 48 hours. If the population reached, for example, 1,800, they would divide this number by 48, which equalled 37.5 people during every hour at the well. This system remained in place until the 1970s and came to an end when the water authority in Ramallah began to supply the village with water and the fountain became government property. In addition, there was less need for the water fountain because water pipelines supplied all modern houses with enough water to meet the basic daily needs of villagers.
In the 1990s the pipelines that carried water from the spring on the mountain to the fountain were rehabilitated, and over the fountain a large tank was put in place. Now the village people use the water to make coffee and tea. Men and women stop at the tank to fill plastic bottles with water for storage because they believe that it has greater nutritional value than bottled mineral water.
Our village Turmus Ayya is located in a mountainous area between Jerusalem and Nablus. It is an area that is subject to severe water shortages, but the Palestinian population has managed to overcome the problem through three simple methods: the political method, in which all are treated with justice and are given an equal share; the economic method, which combines private ownership, partnership, and public property; and the social method, by which all people cooperate and create customs and flexible traditions that characterise a solid and balanced society.
Although partnership and the sharing of water wells disappeared long ago, the concept of creative cooperation can still be seen in the joint stock endeavour, the Olive Press Company, which was established in the 1950s. There are currently 120 shares in the company that are distributed among all the families now living in the village. The concept of cooperation for olive pressing motivated them to create this profit-making cooperative company. Such an example of productive cooperation has a long history in Palestine, as represented through the interaction of the Palestinian population with their land. It has become part of the Palestinian identity and social fabric in spite of the negative effects of the post colonial period and globalisation.
Nabeel Alkam, a retired history and math teacher, is a researcher in Palestinian and Arab heritage and society. He has published more than 12 books, including Palestinian Folklore and Oral History. He can be reached at Nabeel_alkam@yahoo.com or www.nabeelalkam.com.
i The word "customs" derives from the term "get accustomed to." Customs have become so inherent in people that they are called social customs. Traditions are inherited behaviour that last for generations. Thus the terms customs and traditions merge and are almost one, but due to the inherent nature of social customs, they can be stronger and longer-lasting than traditions. ii A mudawara is a circular piece of cloth that the woman puts on her head when she carries a heavy burden in order to prevent hurting her head and to keep the weight in balance. iii The khattaf is a v-shaped piece of metal with one side longer than the other. It is tied to a rope and lowered into the bottom of the well to look for lost buckets. Sometimes two or more joined khattafs are used at one time to look for buckets at the bottom of the well.
Palestinian Customs for Social Occasions
- Jerusalem Customs and Traditions
By Dr. Ali Qleibo - The Groom’s Shower
By Ala’ Badarneh - Funerals
By Khaled Jarrar - Sharing Water A Model of Cooperation Rooted in Traditions and Customs i
By Nabeel Alkam - Marriage Traditions in Hebron
Dr. Tayseer Abu Sakour - Neighbours, Children, and Space
By Dr. Zuhair Sabbagh - My Mother-in-law and the Wedding Yeast
By Raed Saadeh and Raida Farhat Odeh
Is it possible that we will be officially in spring in some three weeks’ time? Well, judging by the unseasonably warm weather that we have had in the past month or so, it seemed that spring was in full bloom already then. While Europe was experiencing an exceptionally cold spell, we were in the throes of an exceptionally warm - actually quite hot - spell.
This balmy weather does not bode well for the country’s precipitation levels. We had some good and copious downpours that promised to make this winter season an abundant one. But, alas, the bounty did not last long enough to fill our water reservoirs and overflow our lakes and rivers. Winter is not officially over yet, so there is still a glimmer of hope.
Palestine’s multifaceted social fabric makes for a rich and intricately woven tapestry abundant in customs and habits peculiar to each ethnic group. This is especially evident during social occasions such as holidays, weddings, funerals, etc. Just stick around for the Easter holidays to witness how each denomination celebrates this holy occasion. Each community prides itself on the customs it has been observing since time immemorial, passed on from one generation to the next, with very little leeway for change. The same goes for customs surrounding the birth of a child (especially a male), marriage, death, and mourning. These habits are more rigidly observed in the villages where people tend to divert very little from what has been traditionally done in the past on similar occasions.
This month’s issue of This Week in Palestine sheds light on some of the more interesting customs that are still widely observed by Palestinians on their joyous and solemn occasions. The unwritten social protocol dictates that we behave in a certain manner from which we must not veer. Those who have the temerity to do so are often frowned upon. But, after all, aren’t customs what distinguish one community from another?
If you are staying long enough in the country, befriend a local and accompany him/her to as many social occasions as you can to witness firsthand what we are talking about. And enjoy yourself in the process - assuming they are all happy occasions.
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