As promised, the second nexus of Southern Encounters; pictures taken in Samara, comes your way. The visual representations you are about to see are somewhat of a different taste than those featured before. Some were taken in the city of Karak itself, and some in the Samara, the village. I enjoyed capturing those pictures and I can willingly promise you some more, perhaps of a different city - a different village, once I get the chance to dust my traveling abilities. Brace yourselves, Culture is showing.

The first picture I choose to share is that of prophet Noah’s tomb. Now I am not an expert but word of mouth has it that this is where the prophet lies, undisturbed. The tomb is located on a hill top close to the Castle of Karak, the situation is fantastic. I personally would like to be buried in such a place, wouldn’t you?

The first picture situated below is an image of the old Masjid (Mosque) in Samara. As you may have noticed, the structure itself is no more than a humble room with quite a nice garden.Note the original “speakers” at the top of the Mosque, those are the primitive form of what is called a “Ma’thana” in Arabic. A Ma’thana is the projected erect bit of most Mosques’ buildings, it is the place from which the call for prayer is announced, generally speaking.

Progress comes, and a new Mosque is built. The second picture shows you what the new prayer house looks like, and you can clearly see the proper, traditional Ma’thana.

The two coming pictures were taken in the city of Karak. Those are random houses that sum up the modern architecture of the city. Being placed on a mountain top, there is little room for expansion. Therefore many houses are now built outside the city centre, call the new location the suburbs if you will. Better organization, and better services are found in those areas.

Those are two streets in Karak city. The picture to the left is of an oldish street, note the building to the right and the small chair on the pavement. Old men normally sit by street sides or in front of shops, where they talk and smoke. It is not at all uncommon for a stranger to stop you in the street and relate your family history as you stare with a mouth wide open, that is the magic of small societies. It’s one big family that shares the same history.

The picture to the right is of a more, commercialized -I should say- street. Some sustain that this is the main street in the city.

An eye for random beauty, I flatter myself. Wind blowing and fragile tree branches dancing to its beat, a picture of that moment in time.

Two kids playing in the streets of Samara. I honestly find photography a most thrilling form of Art, you capture time when you take a picture. That’s a miracle. The following pictures were also taken in Samara, one being of the same Arched structure that I do not know the function of, feature previously in Southern Encounters I, the other being of a distant goat herd in some valley.

My Art teacher of some time ago once told me that the donkey was the first engineer. For in ancient times, where the donkey trod it would open a new road. And there you have it, a donkey is an engineer. This animal is very useful to farmers, they use it for moving from one place to another.

One of the most beautiful spectacles to behold is the reflection of old men by that old store. The white textile on two of the men’s heads is called a “Hatta”, and the black ring on it is called a “Igal”. This is traditional men’s wear in Jordan, colors of Hatta vary: Some are pure white in totality, some are red and white, and some are white and black.

In Palestine and Iraq, as well as the Gulf region, men wear the Hatta and Igal as well.

Last but not least, I introduce “Ayzar”. A small patch of land with ruins and a single tree standing in the middle. I do not know to what period of time those ruins belong, but one interesting fable states that there is gold in this area. Many stories have been fabricated about golden treasures and relics existing in various locations in Karak’s rural side, and I do not find the assumption illogical. A great many civilization inhabited the place, it would be safe to assume there are things hidden here or there.

This concludes Southern Encounters II.

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 23rd, 2005 at 12:01 am and is filed under Jordan, Picturesque. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.