becausechocolatethatswhy:

this is a picture of a sash sar (to place the sash). it’s a ceremony held 7 days after a woman is married and is unique to the southern region of Somalia. I love the idea behind this more than I like the actual wedding. why? because the point of the wedding ceremony islamically is to make the wedding public to the general community. the point of the sash saar (a cultural practice) is for the new bride to honour the women who’ve helped her grow from a girl to a woman and to celebrate this milestone with them.

you see the phrase sash saar literally translates to placing the sash (the sash being a small square material that can be seen being placed on the womans head). Somali women don’t wear the sash unless they’re married so you wouldn’t own any so on the 7th day after you get married you get together with a bunch of women who’ve been a part of your life who bring a truckload of them. they take turns placing them on your head and it’s kind of symbolic of being recognized as a woman by them.

now here’s my favourite part! the first woman to place the sash is chosen by the bride, (there are a few culturaly accepted requirements). but the woman she chooses is one who she highly respects. By choosing a woman to place the first sash she tells that woman I want to be the kind of wife you are, I want to be the kind of woman you are. 

 the wedding (at least every Somali wedding i’ve been to) is just a party. the actual marriage contract is signed during an earlier ceremony called a nikkah so the wedding is basically an after party where people celebrate the wedding. So yeah I like the sash sar better than the wedding

I can’t wait to have one! No wedding, just a sash sar please.

7lettersofglori:

MOREHOUSE COLLEGE CLASS OF 2013

This warms and touches my heart to see some many BLACK male college graduates with promising futures. This is a sure fire sign that there is still hope for our communities and future generations. This needs to be rebloged as much as we reblog these celebrities. These are he real heros. -Glori

this is beautiful.

nigerianostalgia:

Peatwal Junior Primary School, Kano. 1960
Vintage Nigeria

ericaleshai:

voluntaryexchange:

thevocalibertarian:

priceofliberty:

theneighbourhoodsuperhero:

Ruhal Ahmed, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, tears up when asked to discuss the youngest detainee in Guantanamo, who he reveals was only NINE YEARS OLD and was tortured in the same way and as frequently as the adult detainees.

“They don’t care how old or young you were,” he says, “You was a Muslim by name, and that was more of a good reason to arrest you and treat you the way they treated everybody.”

Tortured at 9 years old by the United States government.
To think, probably all he did was pick up a gun to defend his country.

Tortured at 9 years old by the United States government. 

Tortured at 9 years old by the United States government. 

Tortured at 9 years old by the United States government. 

Tortured at 9 years old by the United States government. 

theblackcurator:

shezuschrist:

Iconic.

life goals: be this baaad.

Stonetown, Zanzibar, Tanzania 

sincerelymona:

Abdia Abdi Khalil and her son Hameed, Somali refugee camp, Mandera, Kenya, 1992 

somewhere-in-palestine:

Jaffa (يافا) - Palestine