Today
as in the past, Nubian life revolves around the Nile River.
The Nile provides water for drinking, cooking, and washing
as well as for irrigation. The Nile's yearly flood provides
fertile silt for agriculture. Like many African peoples, the
Nubians traditionally are farmers, who work the land with
the help of their families. Everyone, including the children,
has a job to do, especially in times of heavy work like planting
or harvest. Animals like cows, donkeys, and camels work along
with the people, preparing the land, plowing, and harvesting
the crops. They also carry people and their crops between
the village and the fields.
In
the midst of the desert, the Nile's yearly flooding not only
brings abundant water, but also renews the soil along its
banks by depositing a rich load of silt from upstream. In
the fields flooded by the Nile, the villagers plant quick-growing
crops like beans, sorghum, and vegetables. Nubians have practiced
this traditional style of agriculture in the Nile flood-plain
for thousands of years. Just above the level of flooding ,
there are groves of date palms. Dates are a cash crop as well
as a staple of the diet in the village. In addition, the palm
trees provide wood for house rafters and palm fronds for weaving
into baskets and mats, for covering roofs, and for making
fires for cooking. In the past these groves were irrigated
by a "kolay," a traditional wooden water wheel powered
by harnessed cattle, or by a "shadoof," a wooden
water scoop operated by one person. At present, diesel pumps
lift water from the Nile to these groves and to other fields
farther from the river.
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