الشلوخ

Shulukh

Several cosmetic procedures such as shulukh (facial scars), washm (tattoos), and fisada (superficial scars), are performed surgically. Shulukh are common among tribes of Arab stock, though also known among indigenous tribes prior to Arab migration to the Sudan. Yusuf Fadl Hasan traced the shulukh back in the ancient world, especially in Tropical Africa and early Arabia, and discussed the various reasons given for inflicting them in his book Al-Shulukh.[i]

The tribes who inflict shulukh do so, especially on males, as characteristic tribal or clan brands. The scars may also characterize a Sufi fraternity or may be purely cosmetic such as in women. They may be protective in function. An unusual pattern of scars is inflicted on a precious child’s face to protect it from premature death. This is especially done when the family has repeated deaths, or when a child is born just after its father’s death. Here, for example, a single vertical scar is inflicted on the cheek so that the hovering father’s spirit would not recognize it.[ii] In intense grief in the death of a close relative or a beloved one, a ‘T’ pattern is added to the usual set of scars. Similarly, a different pattern is inflicted to protect one from dying of grief. In all these cases, the different pattern is believed to camouflage the bearer from the onslaught of the Angel of Death or hide a precious child from the Evil Eye.[iii]

The scars are made by experts who understand fully the social requirements and comply with the prevalent norms of beauty. To prepare the face for the surgical procedure, they first outline the site with a marker. They, then, cut on the markings with a razor blade and remove the skin away. The resulting wound is immediately filled with oil as styptic and to aid healing.

Among the Dinka, the initiation of youths is ushered in by removal of the lower teeth, infliction of gornum (tribal markings around the head), and, finally cicatrisation.[iv] The Hadandawa of the eastern Sudan and the Nuba of the west are the indigenous tribes that are known to inflict shulukh as tribal markings. Some members of the Azande tribe of the Sudan occasionally produce facial scars such as those of the Arabs by painting the face with the caustic juice of a local plant known as leshi, thus producing spurious scars.

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[i] Yusuf Fadl Hasan. Al-Shulukh wa Asluha wa Wazifatuha fi Sudan Wadi Al-Nil Al-Awsat [Arabic]. Khartoum: Khartoum University Press; 1976. 90 pages.

[ii] Sayyid Hamid Hurreiz. Birth, Marriage, Death and Initiation Customs and Beliefs in the Central Sudan: Leeds University; 1966.

[iii] The practice of drawing the sign-of-the-cross in antimony on the forehead of a child running fever could be seen as a temporary tattoo or cautery.

[iv] Titherington reports that among these tribes, these three practices are universal but circumcision is not: the latter seems a matter of caprice and often some sons are circumcised and their brothers not -- apparently at random. Few of the circumcised have encountered Muslims. (Titherington, Major G.W. The Raik Dinka of Bahr El Ghazal Province. Sudan Notes and Records; 1927; 10: 160-209).