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Hamda and The Fairy Fish: Final Illustrations.

I am finally done! I just hope it isn't too late.

Blogger's new interface isn't too flexible; I just wasted my time trying to rearrange the photos and put them in the right order only to end up failing.

I will be scanning them properly tomorrow or the day after.

Let me know what you think.

Thank you.

Hamda and the fairy fish: WIP

Experimenting with the pen: value and texture.

Hamda and the Fairy Fish: WIP

I'm still trying to decide whether I want to have it digital, nondigital or a combination of both..
Your feedback is highly appreciated at this point. :)
Fatma.

Qatari Folktales

Shamma Al-Hetmi wrote the following information paper about Qatari Folktales. I enjoyed reading it and thought of sharing it with all of you.

Have you ever heard the story about the evil sea monster that drowns ships and kills sailors? How about the story of the evil woman with the donkey feet? Or the story of the crazy monster that likes to eat small children and has palm leaves for hair? If you answered ‘no’ to all these questions then you’re probably not familiar with Qatari folktale.

But you should be.

If you’re Qatari, live in Qatar, plan on visiting, or even just have the teeniest interest in the country, you should know its folktale because they not only tell a lot about Qatar’s culture and heritage, but they also offer a unique knowledge of its precious history. A folktale, according to the Oxford English Dictionary definition, is “a story that originated in popular culture, typically passed on by word of mouth.” It is the unwritten tale that was passed from one generation to another, from elders to children, and contains knowledge about the culture’s storytelling traditions. Qatari folktales transmit cultural understanding, beliefs, morals and values. They are important to know – now more than ever – because they are beginning to disappear from the Qatari society, especially with the rapid changes in lifestyles the society is experiencing in these last several years.

In typical Qatari culture, there are many stories that include different mythical characters that were told by the older generations. Unfortunately, these stories have been forgotten and have disappeared from our lives, possibly forever. However, some stories that were adapted and mentioned in plays, movies, and television shows remain, and are probably the only stories today’s generation are familiar with.

The first popular Qatari folktale is the story of Bu Daryah. The story of Bu Daryah is not only present in Qatari folklore, but also in the Emirati, Kuwaiti, and Bahraini folklore as well, due to the countries’ close proximity and shared traditions and beliefs. There are many different versions of the same story, but the end result is usually the same in all of them. Bu Daryah is believed to be a monster. Some believe him to be a Jinni, and he is considered to be the father of the sea. The word Daryah is Farsi in origin and it means ‘The Sea.’ The word Bu, shortened from the word ‘Abu,’ means ‘Father’ in Arabic, thereforeBu Daryah directly translates to ‘Father Of The Sea.’

The story of Bu Daryah is one of fright and terror for the people who used to live by the coast in Qatar, especially for sailors, fishermen and pearl divers. In one version of the story, Bu Daryah sneaks into the ships at night, precisely between Isha[1] and Fajir[2] prayer times, and kidnaps fishermen and sailors while they’re sleeping. Once he kidnaps a sailor, he destroys and devours him savagely and then sinks the ship along with every soul onboard. Due to this mythical creature, sailors and fishermen assigned two or three sailors to patrol the ship at night with swords and hammers, so that if Bu Daryah came, he would see them prepared and would run off (Usually without showing his features because he would always come in complete darkness – although the folktale asserts him to be a strong man with a huge body.) Another version hasBu Daryah pretending to be drowning in the sea while calling to the sailors for help and rescue. If the sailors rescue him and bring him onboard, he would steal their food and supplies, then destroy and sink the ship. To protect themselves, the sailors would commonly read verses from the Quran and recite prayers to keep the evil sea monster away from their ships, before going on their long trips.

While the story is of Persian origin, the people of Qatar and neighboring countries adopted it and told it over the decades when men depended on fishing and pearl diving to earn a living. Women purposefully kept retelling the stories to their children, in hopes of keeping them away from ever going to sea or pursuing the dangerous job of pearl diving.

The second popular story is the story of Homarat Al Ghaylah. Like Bu Daryah, she is also believed to be a Jinni. Homar, in Arabic, means ‘Donkey,’ and Al Ghaylah means ‘noon’ or ‘noontime.’ Therefore the direct translation would be ‘The Noontime Donkey,’ or ‘The Donkey At Noon.’ Similar to Bu Daryah, Homarat Al Ghaylah is also an evil, terrifying character.

Homarat Al Ghaylah is believed to be a savage female animal of sorts. She has a human body, but instead of human legs she has those belonging to a donkey. In some versions, she has the body of a human, the legs of a cow, and the face and feet of a donkey. She is also known as Om Homar in some other countries around the Gulf countries. The story of this character is basically that she hunts and eats young children for lunch and she only appears at noontime, when typically the streets are quiet, empty, and deserted.

This story reflects a lot about the cultural history of Qatar in the old times – that is, in Qatar standards, four to six decades ago. In the pearl diving, mud houses era, kidnappings of women and children were common, so grandmothers and parents invented the story of Homarat Al Ghaylah to keep their children inside their homes at noontime when the streets were considered dangerous and empty. It was also to protect them from the dangerous heat of the sun. This mythical creature terrified the children of that era, and her story remains etched in their brains till this day.

A third story in Qatari folktales is the story of Om Al Sa’af Wil Leef. This story is perhaps the least known story of the three, but the name, ‘Om Al Sa’af Wil Leef,’ is used in Qatari society more often than others. It is used as an adjective to describe an ugly person, usually a girl. Typically, Om Al Sa’af Wil Leef is an ugly faced woman with palm leaves or fronds for hair. She is scary, unattractive, and likes to eat young children.  Similar to Homarat Al Ghaylah,grandmothers have fabricated this story to protect their grandchildren from going outside in windy and rainy weather. While shaking palm leaves indicating the scary woman’s presence is the only specific detail known about the story, the rest has been forgotten but Om Al Sa’af Wil Leef remains one of the more popular characters in Qatari folktale.

It is not hard to see that most Qatari folktales were geared mainly towards children; they have magical elements with creative animal characters and a purpose to the stories. Whether its Bu Daryah, Om Al Sa’af Wil Leef, orHomarat Al Ghaylah, all three stories have the same lesson to teach; that is you should stay at home where you’re better protected and safe. This tells you a lot about the Qatari culture, its beliefs, and the mentality of people during the old days where life was much more difficult. So folktales are an important part in understanding people’s valuable histories and rich cultures.

Resources:

1. Um Khalaf. Interview by Sara Ibrahim Al-Khalfan. Tape recording interview. May 2010.
2. Al-Saied, Khalifa. Interview by Sara Ibrahim Al-Khalfan. Tape recording interview. 13 May 2010.
3. Al Nasser, Ali Bin Shadad. Of our Qatari heritage. Doha: Akath Islamic Bookstore, 2005. Print.
4. Simpson, J. A., and E. S. C. Weiner. The Oxford English dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. Print.

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[1] Isha Prayer is the nighttime daily prayer recited by practicing Muslims.

[2] Fajir Prayer is the first of the five daily prayers recited by practicing Muslims.

FYI: Template for Final Report to QF

QNRF

UREP FINAL REPORT

Instructions

A Final Report for each UREP awarded Project is required to be submitted to QNRF by the deadline shown in the cycle’s timeline. 

PFM please note: ·       The Final Report must be prepared by the Primary Faculty member and submitted to his/her Research Office for vetting and subsequent submission to QNRF. ·       This Final Report should highlight progress made, accomplishment of the goals and objectives specified in the approved proposal, results obtained problems or difficulties encountered and deviations from the original objectives. Payments will be delayed if the Awardee fails to submit satisfactory and timely report. The report will be reviewed by QNRF to ensure compliance with QNRF guidelines and the Awardee will be notified of acceptance or of rejection of the report no later than one calendar month from the date of receipt by QNRF.

Research Office please note: ·       Vetted Final Reports should be converted to .PDF format and uploaded to QNRF’s submission website at https://qnrfsubmission.info. ·       Vetting process involves checking: o      Compliance with report submission deadline o      Validity of names and statuses of all participants o      Accuracy and Authenticity of information provided, e.g., accomplishments, efforts, procurement, travel, etc. o      General compliance with institution’s rules and regulations, as well as those of QNRF. o      Compliance with IRB requirements, if any. 1.  Project Description

This is the main section that will be used to technically evaluate the project for UREP Competition and other purposes. Please follow the scheme given in the box below, and use Arabic or English (depending on the language used in the project).

Abstract: Significance: Objectives: Methodology: Results and Discussion: Conclusion: Reference: Acknowledgement: “This [publication, report, etc.] was made possible by a UREP award [UREPNN-NNN-N-NNN] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of The Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the author[s].”

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