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Culture.
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SIWA CULTURE
I am inviting you all to experience the magical world that is the Siwa Oases.
We wish to share our rich tradition and culture with you.
We live in a tribal system. This is broken up into two main groups the East tribe and the West tribe.There are ten tribes withn these two groups
.and group live in El Gara .The leader of each group is the the chief we know him as Amazigh Agleed or you may well know his other name the Shiekh the head of the family. He leads the family Council that has ten members all respected elders of the tribe. He personally settles problems within the family group and also gives advice to other tribes. In this way harmony, respect and close relationships are maintained both within the family tribe and co-existing tribes. In the case of disputes between members of different tribes the respective shieks arbitrate using the Siwan law and the Koran. Admonishments can be beatings, the giving of alms, fines or banishment from the tribe.If the problem is connected with the land a special Committee gathers and they decide the land rights using old papers relating to the land some of these important papers are more than one hundred years old. Even the Egyptian Police work in co-operation with the Shieks where appropriate.Everyone respects the Shiek and the young are brought up to respect their elders. An errant child is chastized by being called the Agleed. It is a society where everyone has a place.
The Siwan people have a different perspective on life from other Egyptians. We have a tribal family based mentality. We marry within our own tribe this is our preferred way. In this way we preserve the integrity of our community. However there are draw-backs to this can lead to genetic problems such as albinos.
We live a healthy life living in the Oases. We help each other. There is nothing that we will not do for each other. In times of hardship we will give help and money. If one of us is punished then we help pay the fine or it may well be that the fine is not accepted as long as an apology has been given. We forgive each other. Wealthier individuals will assist those who are less fortunate and will do this unobtrusively by setting up covenants. At Ramadan and after the Eid el Fitr and the Eid el Adha alms are given. These are also occasions of great celebrations. For more details click on the menu.
We originate from the North African Berber tribes. Amazigh. We are the Siwan Berbers. Because of our geographical isolation we have remained relatively unchanged.To learn more about individual families please click on the family tree.
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