Algerian women choose poetry over sitcoms in Ramadan tradition

By Hayam El Hadi for Magharebia in Algiers — 31/08/09

Sitting in a circle, women recite poems handed down by their ancestors from mother to daughter. They make wishes and look for clues to their future in the poems. Just as their elders did, they are playing bouqala, a women's rite practiced in Algeria mainly during Ramadan.

According to tradition, women gather after iftar, once their husbands have gone out. They meet at one of their houses, on a rooftop terrace if possible, to play bouqala.

The game involves sitting around a bowl (bocal in French, hence the name bouqala) filled with water from seven springs or seven taps. Each of the women puts in a jewel, ring, earring or brooch.

The eldest woman holds the bowl above a kanoun (earthenware container filled with embers and incense). She recites a bouqala – a poem from oral tradition that tells a story of love, sadness, marriage or long journeys. The women then take turns thinking of a particular person and dedicate the bouqala to them.

Depending on the poem, the women try to explain what the future holds: an encounter, a separation or a long journey.

Meriem, who has taken part in the ritual with her grandmother since she was very young, is doing all she can to ensure the tradition survives.

"Once a week during Ramadan, I invite over my cousins," she said. "We meet at my house to play bouqala."

"I used to play it with my mother and grandmother," said Meriem, who is now the mother of two girls. "We lived in the casbah. The women met on the terrace and stayed there late into the night. Each one would take her turn and the game would carry on until the men got back."

"It's a game that's just for women," she added. "It's an opportunity for women to have fun, but most importantly, to bring a bit of poetry and dreaming into their lives."

To ensure that tradition is not bypassed as a result of the modern lifestyle that Algerians now lead, many families would rather take part in this ritual than watch television every evening. Both seniors and young people have a role in maintaining the tradition.

"In my day, there was no television or Internet," El Hadja Fatma recalled. "The evenings were long and so we used to play bouqala to entertain ourselves. We used to spend many enjoyable times playing it."

"Even though we knew it had no powers of prediction, we believed the messages that the bouqala gave us," said the elder woman, as her daughter Hind listened attentively. "We were young dreamers, and when a bouqala told us we were going to meet a handsome man, we wanted to believe it."

For her part, Hind keeps a booklet in which she has written down all the poems that her grandmother knows.

"I think this heritage shouldn't be lost," said Hind. "It has survived for all these years because women have jealously guarded it. That's what I'm trying to do now by noting down all the poems."

"I've even recorded several cassettes," she added. "I keep these audio tapes and listen to them constantly. This is my favorite one:


The almond tree blossoms in the spring,


The Moon discovers its light,


Cheeks blush with modesty


Before the lover who gives himself away."

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/08/31/feature-03.