IRAQ: Kurds in northern Iraq enjoy Ramadan evenings outdoors in a stable security situation

Record ID: 577259

  • Title: IRAQ: Kurds in northern Iraq enjoy Ramadan evenings outdoors in a stable security situation
  • Date: 9th October 2007
  • Summary: (MER-1) ARBIL, IRAQ (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 28, 2007) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) WIDE OF GROUPS OF MEN PLAYING TRADITIONAL KURDISH GAME SINIYA WA DHARUF IN OPEN COURTYARD (AUDIO: KURDISH MUSIC THROUGHOUT) TEAMS PLAYING, ONLOOKERS CLAPPING ALONG TO MUSIC CUPS BEING REMOVED FROM TRAY IN SEARCH OF HIDDEN RING COLLEAGUES COVERING MAN WITH SHEET WHILE HIDING RING IN ONE OF THE CUPS CU
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA1TXHTI7YS80IT8U737J5PP1FY
  • Story Text: Kurds in the stable and secure North of Iraq spend Ramadan evenings outdoors playing traditional games.
    Even in games Iraqis now find themselves divided: those who can play and those who can't.
    While most Arab Iraqis remain huddled in their homes this Ramadan -- afraid to venture out in groups for fear of falling victim to some wayward attack -- Iraqis in the country's stable and secure Kurdish regions have free rein to indulge in their favourite pastimes.
    Every night after Iftar, the men of the largely Kurdish region of Arbil congregate in groups of opposing teams to look for rings hidden beneath eleven cups on a tray. The atmosphere is jubilant -- filled with music, clapping and laughter -- and continues into the early hours of the morning.
    The game they are playing is Siniya wa Dharuf -- Kurdish for 'Cups and Trays' and its Arab equivalent is known as Mahabis (Arabic: Rings).
    "Thank God the situation is stable in Kurdistan. The game usually starts at 9 p.m.. and goes on until 5 a.m. The game's objective is to bring together our loved ones -- Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians and anyone living in Kurdistan. And Siniya wa Dharuf is not new, it is an old game," Kurdish player Fayah Koulchi says.
    Played for centuries in both Arab and Kurdish regions during the holy month of Ramadan, Siniya wa Dharuf pits two teams of four to six players against each other in search of a gold or silver ring that could be under any of eleven cups placed face down on a tray.
    "The game involves ten or eleven cups and a ring. We usually hide the ring in one of the cups. We might suspect the ring is in one of two cups and select both. If we suspect the ring might be in a third cup, we can select all three. Those are the rules of the game and we only play it in Ramadan," Mazen Arab Gulshad, from Arbil, explains.
    The winners are the first to score ten points.
    In the Baghdadi version, fifty men organised in two opposing teams take turns to hide a golden or silver ring in their clenched fists. When the ring has been hid by one group, a ring-finder is elected from the opposing team.
    The opponents score points at the expense of each other whenever a ring is not found. The game is over when a team has scored eleven points.
    In both the Arab and Kurdish versions, winners are rewarded with popular Iraqi sweets, namely Zalabiyah and Baklava, but traditionally they share their prize with the losers.
    Ramadan group activities have practically disappeared in Baghdad and most other regions of Iraq due to the ongoing violence, security restrictions and curfews imposed by the government; forcing most Iraqi families to stay at home and watch the game of Mahabis being played inside the studios of Iraqi satellite channels.
    The Kurdish region, autonomous from Baghdad since U.S. intervention after the 1991 Gulf War, has experienced little of the violence that has plagued the rest of Iraq since Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003.
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