How Is The Culture In Zanzibar? Zanzibar Culture: Unguja (Zanzibar Island) and Pemba are the two main islands that make up Zanzibar. Around the larger islands are numerous smaller ones, the majority of which are empty or home to only hotels. Zanzibar is an independent region of Tanzania. In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to establish the Republic of Tanzania. Zanzibar was a British protectorate until 1963.
People from many ethnic backgrounds, including Persian, Arab, and African, make up the Zanzibari population. Despite having a majority Sunni Muslim population (almost 90%), Zanzibar also has a variety of Christians, Hindus, and other lesser-known religions present.
The word Zanzibar refers to the group of islands in the Indian Ocean that are located off the coast of Tanzania’s main land and consist of Unguja, the largest island, also known as Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia, and other smaller islands.
Zanzibar frequently appears to be a different country when compared to the mainland, and this is largely because it was before the unification in 1964. The archipelago and its inhabitants have a distinctive history and culture that have been greatly affected over the years by traders and invaders from Portugal, Oman, and England.
Zanzibar doesn’t have tribes like Tanzania’s main island does. Instead, local customs are a combination of several ethnic groups who migrated to the islands, leading to occasions like Portuguese-era Pemba bull fights and Mwaka Kogwa, the Persian New Year celebration.
After hosting the Zanzibar International Film Festival and the Sauti za Busara music festival in recent years, Zanzibar has become recognized internationally as a major cultural hub. This demonstrates how the islands have been successful in preserving their history while advancing steadily towards the future.
Although Zanzibar people are used to Western culture, you should try to be respectful. This means:
- Clothes: Women and men should make an effort to cover their legs and arms.
- It is regarded as disrespectful to show public affection.
- Be discreet when drinking alcohol in public.
- Travelers should abstain from eating and drinking in public while fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. Additionally, remember not to smoke in front of others.
This cultural hub is renowned for its stunning beaches, spice farms, and Stone Town, an ancient city with Arabic influences. Due to Zanzibar’s past as the primary location for the trade of slaves in East Africa, the history also includes a darker period. Numerous historical sites are still accessible today.
CULTURE IN ZANZIBAR: PEACE MEMORIAL MUSEUM ZANZIBAR
Zanzibar’s culture is a fusion of numerous lifestyles that reflect many ethnic groups and historical histories, making it distinct from Tanzanian culture. Visitors frequently compare the mood in Stone Town, in particular, to that of Arab nations with a European influence. You can tour a variety of museums, historical sites, food markets, churches, and retail establishments. The Forodhani Food Market, which opens as dusk falls along Stone Town’s front promenade, is a well-known landmark of the city. Here, you may sample the various ethnic influences through some of the most mouthwatering cuisine. Uncover the city’s mysteries with your personalized Stone town guided walking tour from Focus East Africa Tours
CULTURE IN ZANZIBAR: LIFESTYLE
Tanzania is one of the poorest nations in the world, according to the UN. Although tourism helps Zanzibar, the majority of the population still relies on subsistence farming and fishing to survive. There are currently approximately 1 million people residing in Unguja and Pemba, which is still primarily a Muslim country, according to a recent census. Muslims count the days by listening to the muezzin’s call to prayer, which reverberates throughout the islands from sunrise to sunset.
At Eid, which follows Ramadan, the time of fasting, women cover themselves with “Baibui” or “kangas,” kids study their prayers and manners at the neighborhood madrasas, and the archipelago becomes a place of celebration. Stone Town is a vast metropolis by Zanzibar’s standards, while Chake-Chake is a busy, productive town in Pemba.
The majority of the population lives in an area outside of the town called “shamba,” which means farm. The majority of villagers live in mud homes with woven palm frond roofs, known as “makuti,” and village life is straightforward. In rural places, there is no electricity or running water; instead, water must be transported from wells or gathered in buckets during the rainy seasons. Beans, maize, breadfruit, and cassava are a few native staple foods that families grow on their land and prepare over an open wood fire or a charcoal stove as part of their daily diet. Pilau, or rice with island spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves, is prepared on festive occasions.
CULTURE IN ZANZIBAR: THE HISTORY OF THE SWAHILI COAST
Zanzibar had already experienced the light of the Oriental world, while most of Europe was still wallowing in the Dark Ages. It was tucked away in the midst of an advanced mercantile culture made up of numerous separate coastal and island city states that covered all of East Africa, from the Somali coast to the Zambezi River’s mouth. The Swahili civilization was developed on the African coast and fed by the waters of the Indian Ocean. For centuries, merchant ships carrying traders, explorers, and pirates from India, Arabia, Persia, China, Japan, and Russia traveled along this well-traveled path. They left with the ships’ holds bulging with trade goods after sailing through the monsoon to the East African coast. In exchange for their removal of ivory, tortoiseshell, slaves, and palm oil, they brought metal equipment, swords, and jewelry.
The Persian Gulf people’s maritime heritage is reflected in the 9th-century Tales of Sinbad the Sailor from the Arabian Tales. They gave the coastline the name “Zanj el Barr,” which translates to “land of black people.” To create “the Swahili,” a unique race with its own language, feudal lords, artistic forms, and ornamental traditions, the African coastal population intermarried with the foreigners and combined their traditions with Arab ones. They were given the name “sahl” after the African word for coast. Shirazi and Arab guests who had been forced from their homeland by a string of wars and conflicts that plagued the Persian Gulf nations eventually made permanent settlements in Swahili cities and brought the Islamic faith with them.
Because they were divided into various groups, each of which had its own sultan, the Swahili had no single ruler. However, with a continuous flow of people between the commerce centers, that fluctuated over the course of centuries. ‘Mwinyi Mkuu’ was the hereditary title of the ruling royal family of Zanzibar. The Mwinyi Mkuu were Islamic kings who, according to mythology, were endowed with magical abilities. They are said to have owned a set of magic drums that would beat on their own accord when the kingdom was in danger. The last Mwinyi Mkuu passed away in 1873, and it is said that his mansion in Dunga, in the middle of Zanzibar Island, is haunted.
CULTURE IN ZANZIBAR: TRADING AND LIFE
In the thirteenth century, Zanzibar became well-known as a thriving commercial hub. Swahili communities in Zanzibar and Pemba created elegant green and blue glass perfume bottles in the Syrian style and built stone mosques with carved inscriptions. Chinese porcelain bowls were embedded into the cement walls of the graves of its more prominent people, which included stone towers at either end. Mosques and private homes had dressed stone lintels, plasterwork friezes, rectangular-patterned wall niches, and stone latticed windows.
Because renderings of people or animals were prohibited by Islamic law, the Swahili ornamental culture developed. Wall, ceiling, furniture, and utensil patterns were invariably abstract or made up of verses from the Koran written in Arabic. Persian rugs covered the floors of wealthy homes. Rich women wore elaborate jewelry made of gold and silver, and successful businessmen wore robes and turbans with gold thread embroidery.
Building materials for Swahili homes included fossilized coral that was cement-fixed together with limestone and covered with makuti leaves. The exterior porch had stone benches lining it, creating a daka where the owner of the house greeted guests. The interior of the home was entered through a double-leafed door with carvings, where the Swahili women’s privacy was zealously protected. Only the closest family members had access to their chambers, which were in the house’s deepest corners and beyond an interior courtyard. Rich women might glide between houses undetected in the wealthiest parts of Swahili cities, where covered walkways cross high above the streets.
Domestic furniture made in Swahili was both artistically designed and functional. Food trays featured saucers on either side to hold dishes; corn grinders had big flat stones within; and high-backed formal wedding chairs had ivory or bone inlay. Cotton-cloth baby cradles were suspended from the ceiling or from struts of springy wood. Wooden bed frames that were frequently carved and wrapped in coir rope made from coconut husks were the norm. They were used to carry the dead to their graves and to sit on during the day and sleep on at night. Coffeepots made of brass were etched by hammering or chiseling.
Even today, men continue to navigate Stone Town’s congested streets while donning long, flowing white ‘kanzu’ (robes) and embroidered ‘Kofia’ (hats). Swahili artifacts also adorn hotel lobbies and private homes.
The majority of the populace consumes fried octopus every day, along with Maandazi donuts and curries made with coconut milk and spices. In addition to gangsta rap and European house, “taarab,” the Swahili coast’s traditional music, is played.
Despite long-standing customs of generosity and religious tolerance, multiple invasions by Portuguese, Omani, and European invaders have not diminished the Swahili people’s distinctive cultural identity.
CULTURE IN ZANZIBAR: HENNA
In Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, henna has roots that go back to the Bronze Age. It is used as a dye for silk, leather, and wool, as well as to adorn the body and hair. When the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon, it was rumored that she was covered in henna.
Henna is traditionally applied during happy occasions like weddings and religious holidays like Eid. The leaves of a blooming shrub that thrives in tropical climates and is common throughout Tanzania and Zanzibar are used to make henna. Cutting down branches and letting them dry in the sun until the leaves fall off produces the dye. The leaves are then gathered, powdered, and filtered to get rid of any contaminants. In order to strengthen the color and lengthen the dye’s shelf life, essential oils such as lavender, tea tree, or eucalyptus are occasionally added to the powder and lemon juice mixture. When the paste is prepared, it is applied to the skin by piping it through a cellophane cone. However, toothpicks can also be used to draw designs on the skin. The reddish-brown patterns underneath are then revealed as the paste slowly starts to flake off after drying. After the first few days, the color darkens and can last for up to a fortnight. You can also use henna to dye your hair by covering fresh leaves in coconut oil, letting them steep over heat for 30 minutes, and then applying the colored oil to your hair to give it a crimson tinge while still keeping your hair healthy and beautiful.
The use of black henna, or “wanja,” as it is known in Swahili, to create henna designs has grown in popularity. Black hair color is now used as a substitute for the natural paste that was once created with burnt seeds and coconut oil to create a paste that resembled red henna. If hair color is used as henna, it might result in allergic reactions, blisters, and sores. If you want a design in black henna, be sure the paste is produced from indigo and not hair dye.
The bride is hennaed during a Swahili wedding to bring good fortune and bless the union. A bride can spend hours sitting as the henna artist decorates her skin with flowers on her arms, both sides of her hands, feet, and legs. Some brides want to have their backs and shoulders decorated, while their finger and toe nails are colored orange with the dye. The complex fine floral and paisley patterns found in Indian “mehendi” are combined with the bigger blooms found in Arab henna to create unique henna patterns in Zanzibar. Both red and black henna can be applied, and in accordance with Zanzibari custom, the bride is exempt from household chores in her new home until the henna on her wedding day has faded.
Over time, styles have changed and come and gone with designs and patterns. Mamas at the beaches offer henna, massages, and hair braiding to visitors as part of the beach beauty package, which is definitely influenced by the West. However, Zanzibar’s henna traditions are still robust and will be practiced for many decades to come. Chinese symbols, Celtic tattoos, and dolphin images are becoming more common in pattern books.
