{"id":14814,"date":"2021-07-23T11:22:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T09:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kanaga-at.com\/info-viaggi\/eritrea\/the-markets-of-keren-meeting-place-of-the-tigre-shepherds\/"},"modified":"2022-05-16T15:32:40","modified_gmt":"2022-05-16T13:32:40","slug":"the-markets-of-keren-meeting-place-of-the-tigre-shepherds","status":"publish","type":"info_viaggi","link":"https:\/\/www.kanaga-at.com\/en\/trip-info\/eritrea-en\/the-markets-of-keren-meeting-place-of-the-tigre-shepherds\/","title":{"rendered":"The markets of Keren, meeting place of the Tigr\u00e9 shepherds"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

\u00a9 M. Bartolini<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

If Asmara is the <\/b>“<\/span>Italian” face of the highlands, the stronghold of a Tigrayan soul, and Massawa the Ottoman jewel, of ancient Arab-Islamic descendants who arrived on the coast with the centuries-old sea routes, the beating heart of the deepest Eritrea, a cross-section of the rural hinterland, is the city of Keren and its colourful markets, in the Tigr\u00e9 region<\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Lying on a central-northern lowland<\/b>, Keren represents one of the most evocative ethnographic frescoes of pastoral Eritrea<\/b>, where nomadic or semi-nomadic peoples and settled farmers meet: Afar, Tigrayan, Bilen, Tigre and the <\/b>“<\/span>landlords”<\/b>. A lively sample, which is also found in a varied mix of architectural buildings, including mosques, churches, colonial constructions and traditional tukul <\/i>villages<\/b>, as a prelude to this town, which appears amidst typically “<\/span>Sudanese” vegetation, dotted with baobabs and acacias<\/b>.<\/p>\r\n

A hustle and bustle of herds<\/b>, merchandise of all kinds, beautiful Bilen women <\/b>richly adorned with jewellery and nose rings<\/b>, colourful fabrics and henna dyes <\/b>on their amber skin, small gatherings of Tigre and Afar men <\/b>enjoying tea (shai<\/i>) <\/b>in frothy glass cups, elegant Tigre girls <\/b>with their refined braided hairstyles<\/b>, triumphs of fruit and vegetables, cereals and spices, textiles and utensils.<\/p>\r\n

The products of the land of the Bilen settled farmers and the semi-nomadic Tigre peoples<\/b>, meet the camels and the Dancal salt bars <\/b>of the Afar <\/b>Muslim nomads or their catch <\/b>from the Red Sea, Koranic cultures <\/b>meet Tigrean orthodoxy<\/b>. A m\u00e9lange of faces, hairstyles, traditional dress, cultures and religions. The cereal market that forms <\/b>the backdrop to the<\/strong> Italian cemetery, the silversmiths’ <\/b>stalls, of which Keren’s craftsmen are the most skilled, the atmospheric camel market <\/b>on the outskirts of the city and the British war cemetery<\/b>, erected following the numerous battles fought between the Italians and the British. A potpourri, to which is <\/i>added the sanctuary of St. Maryam Dearit<\/b>, a mystical place of Christian pilgrimage near a spectacular baobab tree<\/b>, venerated as a bearer of fertility<\/b>, according to an ancestral animist sentiment that still survives today in syncretism with the monotheistic religion. It is the <\/span>custom here for women seeking marriage <\/b>to come to the shade of the monumental tree to prepare coffee (bunna<\/i>)<\/b>, according to the <\/span>ancient local ceremony, and offer it to passers-by in the hope that their wish will come true. Accompanying the lively atmosphere of the colourful market are the distant echoes of ancient oral legends of the Tigre people<\/b>, their drums and the plucked strings of the mesenko, <\/i><\/b>which <\/i>resound among the encampments of traditional meadeni <\/i><\/b>and agnet <\/i>dwellings<\/b>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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