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| Ibn Batuta |
As like in any society, people in the Maldives have their own social customs, traditions and cultures, however, in time some of these customs got lost, perhaps in the hurdle of modernity. With the tourism boost in the 70's, came the influence of the western society. Some positive and some negative.
I would like to talk about some of the old Maldivian cultures, that we do not follow anymore, forgotten or those that we may have known very little about. Of course these are very interesting traditions our forefathers practiced.
I ll begin with Tangier traveler and Maldivian Chief Justice Abu-Abdullah Mohammed, the famous Ibn Batuta (1304-78). He writes:
"'The inhabitants of the Maldives Islands are honest and pious people, sincere in good faith and of a strong will; they eat only what is lawful, and their prayers are granted. When one of them meets another, he says God is my lord: Muhammad is my prophet: I am a poor ignorant being."
And he writes:
"The islanders are good people: they abstain from what is foul, and most of them bathe twice a day, and properly too, on account of the extreme heat of the climate and the abundance of perspiration. They use a large quantity of scented oils such as sandalwood oil, and they anoint themselves musk from Makdachaou (Madagascar)"
Also
"It is one of their customs. when they have said the morning prayer, for every woman to go to meet her husband or son with the collyrium box, rose-water, and rubs himself with rose-water and musk oil, and so polishes the skin and removes from his face all trace of fatigue."
Another of their customs he writes, (this one is one of my favorite);
"When one of them marries, and goes to the house of his wife, she spreads cotton cloths from the house door to that of the (nuptial) chamber: on these cloths she places handfuls cowries on the right and left of the path he has to follow, while she herself stands awaiting him at the door of the apartment. On his arrival she throws over his feet a cloth which his attendants take up. If it is the wife who goes to the husband's house is hung with cloths, and cowries are placed thereon: and the woman on her arrival throws the cloth over the feet. And this is also the custom of the islanders when they salute the sovereign, they must without fail be provided with a piece of cloth to cast down at the moment."
He continues to say:
"All the inhabitants of the Maldives, be they nobles or the common folk, keep their feet bare. They streets are swept and well kept: they are shaded by trees. and the passenger walks as it were in an orchard. ... every person who enters a house is obliged to wash his feet with water from the jar placed near the Malem (a partition near the middle divides the house into two rooms, one of which is private, and one which is the other open to all visitors) ... also a bowl called ouelendj (these coconut bowls with long handles, used to draw water) and rub them with a coarse fabric of lif (Pers.) placed there: after which he enters the house. Every person entering a mosque does the same."
These are some excerpts from Ibn Batuta in the Maldives and Ceylon - Albert Gray.
to be continued ...
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