Al Huzail
The "Armon/palace" in
Al Huzail
Rahat from the "Peace Tent"
Ibrahim's wife in the
"Peace Tent"
The "Sheperds Tent"
Dyeing the yarn
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From Beit Kama (road 40) we continued on road 264 to Al Huzail, to visit Ahmad Elhozayel, the 73rd child of Sheikh Saliman al-Huzail, who married 39 women and had 79 children.
Sheikh Saliman al-Huzail was a well-known person; his "palace" was the only stone house in the area.
It appears that slavery as a way of life continued into the 1950s. Black people were serving the Al Huzail tribe by growing wheat.
Those slaves were given food and in special occasions some money. Slaves and masters lived separately in black tents. There was no intermarriage and no concubinage.
However, after 1952 under the Israelis, slavery as an institution faded away.
We continue to Ibrahim al-Afinsh's "Peace Tent".
The Peace Tent is a huge tent with bright red cushions and carpeting. Ibrahim likes to explain how the Peace Tent originated - a car of an Israeli family on their way to Eilat broke down. He had to drag the car with his towing truck to Holon. One of the kids cried so heartbrokenly that Ibrahim offered his own auto to the family so they could proceed to Eilat. A friendship with the Jewish family from Holon grew and the idea for the Peace Tent was born.
To reach the tent take the road from Lahavim Junction to Rahat. Drive 3km. on the right side of the road you will see the tent (contact: Ibrahim al-Afinsh, mobile: 050-5253782).
From the Peace Tent we have proceeded to the "Sheperds Tent" (Lahav Nature Reserve) to meet Ali.
Direction: Lahavim junction to road 31. Drive a few kilometers, turn left to Joe Alon Center. Ali's tent in the center of the KKL Reserve.
At the tent you can learn everything about sheep, cheese making and how to live six months in a tent.
Proceed to "Lakiya Negev Weaving" which is located at the entrance of Lakiya (on the right side on the main street).
Lakiya's yarn is purchased from Negev shepherdess, who spin fleece into yarn on drop spindles while tending their flock in remote areas of the Negev desert.
The spun yarn is wrapped into balls and then two strands are skeined together ready for dyeing.
After dyeing the coloured yarn is hung in the sun to dry.
Women then reball and ply together the two yarn strands on a larger spindle.
Finally the yarn is then ready for weaving. Rugs are woven on traditional ground looms, the same model that Bedouin women have been using for the last 4,000 years.
Warpface ground looms are constructed from stones, ropes, sticks, cans and other readily available items.
Address:LAKIYA - Negev Weaving,
Phone: +972 8 6519883
Fax: +972 8 6513031
Contact Email: lakiya@netvision.net.il
Our last stop is at Joe Alon Center, Kibbutz Lahav, the Museum of Bedouin Culture, an institute with a unique combination of museum, research center, and field school, all dedicated to the promotion of regional studies.
Tel: 08-9913322
www.joealon.org.il
Spinning fleece into yarn and pouring tea at Joe Alon Center
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