DJIBOUTI #29 BLACK

The Republic of Djibouti gained its independence on June 27, 1977. It is the successor to French Somaliland (later called the French Territory of the Afars and Issas), which was created in the first half of the 19th century as a result of French interest in the Horn of Africa.

However, the history of Djibouti, recorded in poetry and songs of its
nomadic peoples, goes back thousands of years to a time when
Djiboutians traded hides and skins for the perfumes and spices of
ancient Egypt, India, and China. Through close contacts with the
Arabian peninsula for more than 1,000 years, the Somali and Afar
tribes in this region became the first on the African continent to adopt Islam.

Because of the many influences, Djibouti is a hodgepodge of ancient and modern. Language is one of the major components of the Djiboutian culture. The multi-ethnic and multi-lingual population speaks Somali and Afar as their mother tongues, but the official languages are Arabic and French.

The cuisine of Djibouti mingles African and French influences to produce meals that might include roast lamb with a delicate yogurt sauce, lentil stew, flatbread, and cucumber salad, served with mineral water and fruit juice. The souk (marketplace) of Djibouti city is famed for its spicy oven-baked fish.

The capital also houses several high-quality Vietnamese, Chinese, and Lebanese restaurants, making it a somewhat remote but altogether fascinating destination for gourmands.

Djiboutian cuisine is a mixture of Somali, Afar, Yemeni, and French cuisine, with some additional South Asian (especially Indian) culinary influences. Local dishes are commonly prepared using a variety of Middle Eastern spices, ranging from saffron to cinnamon.

Djibouti is renowned for its delicate multicoloured textiles, which are made into saronglike garments called futa. These garments are sold in the capital’s colourful central market. Western clothing (jeans and a t-shirt) has widely been adopted, but traditionally, men wear a sarong-like garment known as macawiis,which is a sarong-like garment worn around the waist. It is worn over a half-slip and a bra. Among nomads, many wear a loosely wrapped white cotton robe called a tobe that goes down to about the knee, with the end thrown over the shoulder (much like a Roman toga).

Women typically wear the dirac, which is a long, light, diaphanous voile dress made of cotton or polyester that is worn over a full-length half-slip and a bra. Married women tend to sport head-scarves referred to as shash, and also often cover their upper body with a shawl known as garbasaar. Unmarried or young women, however, do not always cover their heads.

Traditional Arabian garb such as the male jellabiya (jellabiyaad in Somali) and the female jilbāb is also commonly worn. For some occasions such as festivals, women may adorn themselves with specialized jewelry and head-dresses similar to those worn by the Berber tribes of the Maghreb.

Djibouti’s various ethnic groups each have their own different styles of music and accompanying dances. Common instruments used by many of the communities are the drum, tanbura and oud.

Somali and Afar have a rich musical heritage centered on traditional Somali and Afar folklore. Most Somali songs are pentatonic; that is, they only use five pitches per octave in contrast to a heptatonic (seven note) scale such as the major scale.

At first listen, Somali music might be mistaken for the sounds of nearby regions such as Ethiopia, Sudan or Arabia, but it is ultimately recognizable by its own unique tunes and styles. Somali songs are usually the product of collaboration between lyricists (midho), songwriters (lahan) and singers (’odka or "voice").

This tiny speck of a country packs a big punch. What it lacks in size, it more than makes up for in beauty. Few countries in the world, with the possible exception of Iceland, offer such weird landscapes – think salt lakes, extinct volcanoes, sunken plains, limestone chimneys belching out puffs of steam, basaltic plateaus and majestic canyons. Outdoorsy types will enjoy a good mix of land and water activities, including hiking, diving and whale-shark spotting in the Gulf of Tadjoura.

Blessings, Love and Light