Preserving scenes of Ramadhan rituals in Warli art

Perhaps the most prominent of the Sultanate’s Ramadhan rituals is the celebration of the completion of mid-Ramadhan “Qaranqasho”, which is similar to the celebrations of the neighbouring Gulf countries.

Omani artist Marwa al Hinai shared that it is important to document these rituals so they can be preserved. With modernisation creeping in, some of them may no longer be practised in the future.

Marwa was concerned that in the last two Ramadhans, the pandemic has caused previous rituals to be cancelled inspiring her to paint the scenes of these rituals by employing the popular Indian art of Warli.

“It is on the 15th night of Ramadhan where the children are dressed in traditional clothes and going in groups to the neighbours and knocking door to door while singing songs to get sweets and nuts. The words of the song contain prayers to protect the family and their children and keep them healthy, and ask Allah to return this month more and more years,” she shared.

The municipality of Muscat and some Omani women’s associations usually organise the Qaranqasho. Modern celebrations brought these practices to parks, malls and cultural centres.

While Ramadhan is also a time for fasting, people in the Middle East, particularly Oman has also been keen on doing and playing traditional games during the holy month. They usually do this either before the sunset call to prayer or at night and eventually has become an important custom and tradition.

Marwa shared that pre-Covid, young and old people will usually be seen playing football on Ramadhan nights in stadiums.

“I’ve always seen this scene when I was growing up. From the balcony of my home, you can just see people engaging in sports activities. The residents, before Ramadhan, begin conceptualising and thinking of the award for this sport and they work together to make it a success,” she said. Even walking itself became a shared activity.

The seasonal markets that are held in the last days of the holy month of Ramadhan (Al habta) are an ancient legacy in the Sultanate and are always witnessing a great turnout from visitors and citizens.

It is, as she shared, “a special Omani traditional outdoor market that takes place in the last ten days of Ramadhan in preparation for the Eid Al Fitr. It starts from sunrise till afternoon at 1:00 pm. It is, therefore, crowded by visitors to buy their needs to celebrate the Eid.”

At habta, shoppers can find everything they need for Eid. “Habta market provides many things like items of clothing, Omani Halwa, livestock and cooking tools for making Eid meals. It, therefore, witnesses a great turnout from various segments of society as well as of all ages. It is not limited to the elderly only, but is also attended by young people remarkably,” she explained.

Omanis also do habta-hopping where they visit one habta after another from one wilayat to another. These markets, also, held in a distinctive traditional atmosphere, where the shows of horses and camels are held on the sidelines as well.

At the end of the blessed month, the specialised committees are prepared to sight the official crescent of Shawwal month (the next month after Ramadhan). “The sighting of the crescent of the month of Shawwal is a declaration of the end of the month of fasting and the Eid will be the next morning. The people exchange congratulations and blessings,” she explained.

“As slaughtering cattle is one of noticeable ritual linked to Eid, the rituals differ from one state to another on the date of slaughtering cattle, but most states in which the slaughter takes place before the Eid prayer,” she added.

Marwa explained that Warli art that she uses to illustrate the Ramadhan rituals is a folk-art painting used by the Warli tribe of Maharashtra in India to convey their daily and social events for a populace who are not acquainted with the written word. The roots of this art, as she read from Indian websites, may be traced to as early as the 10th century AD.

The technique of drawing this kind of art, she explained, is very basic using simple graphic vocabulary that usually includes triangle, rectangle, circle, line... etc. The artist positions them and controls their movement. “This art is very minimal with colours mostly using a lot of white space. The contemporary artists, nevertheless, was able to transcend the boundaries and utilise this art in the proportion of their artistic needs,” she noted. Marwa explained that this kind of art (Warli art) is a modern style of pre-historic cave paintings.