Beit ash-sha'ar, house of hair
Comfortable throughout the year
Our tents layout
As mentioned before, we can divide the tent into two separate parts with a square curtain that we call the qata. One section is our public section, and the other part is our private section. The public and private parts make it possible to regulate relations between men and women as we are used to in our culture and religion. But no section is exclusively for either men or women. If only close family members are present, everybody can move freely. If outsiders came to visit us, the men sit with them in the public part. During these visits, our women stay in the private area.
Nomadic lifestyle
Our tents are easy to assemble and easy to move. We move to places where there is enough food for our animals. When there is not enough food anymore, we take down our tent and together with our animals move to another place. In spring, when food is available widely, we sometimes have a whole valley to ourselves. When food is scarce, families put tents together in places where there is still enough food.
Although most of us settle down in Rum village, the nomads inside us are still very much alive. In winter we built tents next to our houses. For the simple reason, they are more warm and comfortable. And whenever we are free, we take our beit ash-sha’ar and leave for the desert to spend our time there.
