Hussein Shaheed Maliki
Iraqi writer
Iraq is celebrated for the cultivation of palms, especially in the central and south region due to presence of fertile soil and appropriate climatic conditions for such cultivation… Iraq, however, was one of the first countries in producing and exporting dates worldwide in the region. Palm tree is the highest ranked and most honored tree with its history dating back in Iraq to the days of Hammurabi, where in his code important writings were found supporting that… the palm tree is a blessing, generous tree in every thing it offers: fruit, fronds, carpels, trunk, shadow and even its sight is a kind of comfort for hearts, it has been mentioned in the Quran and noble Hadith (treat your auntie palm tree with deference), also it was mentioned in history books where it was cited by Ibn Al Wardi in his book (unique wonders and sui generis oddities), also it was designated as (Aita), the tall palm tree, the plural of which is (Ait), where its tallness ranges between 25 to 30 m, and thus considered one of the durable group of trees as its longevity ranges between 100 to 200 years, the tallest palm tree in Baghdad was that found on the left shoulder of the timeless Tigris river in Al Eiwadiyyah region… and as one of the palm tree wonders is that if you take the seeds of one palm tree and planted one thousand of them each new tree will be different from the others or even from mother tree. For the importance of palm tree in our daily life, being a principal source of food, it is mentioned frequently in our literary, musical and folk heritage and in sayings and writings from which we would extract some:
• Everyday drop dates o palm tree
• If ever a palm tree grown from his head
• He swallows the palm and "Sleeha"
As the poet Mullah Abboud Karkhi mentioned it where he said:
O poor gather your senses
Your might has been lost in homelands
Even if a palm grow out of your head
And he said also in a poem entitled (o time what a committed mistake), which he published in (Saot-al- Karkh) newspaper in 1948
People with every passing day
Eat Khastawi dates
And the reason behind the cups of patience
I pour down while my soul dissolved
He said also:
Baghdad, built of dates
This lifetime will never end
My fancy, make it to me
Fig has become "shrunk"
And it was made mention of in the Iraqi singing such as "Nazim Al Ghazali", where the song says:
On top of the palm above it
O papa above the palm above it
I cannot tell whether his cheek glowed
Or a ring beamed
Also, the singer Hussein Neameh sang…
Samawah palm says a brunet girl made me tender
Fronds, carpel I remained without a berry of dates
However, most peasants and farmers who work in palm groves are not their property but they work summer and winter for a certain share of production, may be a quarter or a third of dates yield… for these people work all the year round until the season of (cutting), the time of reaping fruits and usually by the end of every summer… then dates are collected in a special place, usually circular or square-shaped, of size commensurate with the quantity of dates to be collected, these places are called (Jawakhin), namely the place where dates are collected, which is built up by peasants from palm fronds with beautiful frame, ground is matted and dates are collected in piles according to their type, such as Khadrawi, Zuhdi, and Dairi, and others. Each peasant or farmer had a (Jokhan) in which he collected his yield of dates…and the process of cutting off dates and lowering them from the upper part of tree is somehow difficult and tiring process and may take several days and weeks, and sometimes the peasant may ask for the help of women workers named (Tawashat) in collecting and picking up dates after being scattered on the ground as a result of dropping down the dates … then Tawashat women transfer them to the "Jokhan" using a vessel called (basket/Kaffa) made up of weaved palm leaves that takes about 15kg of dates, and by the end of work time the same day each woman worker will receive her wage in dates by the quantity of the vessel she used in work…and thus the process is repeated for several days until the end of harvest season. Whereupon, the peasant preserve some species of dates like Khadrawi, Berhi and such like in the (Helan), a container made up of weaved palm fronds each weighing around (25kg), and as for other species they are preserved in special bags and so forth…then the quantity of dates is divided between the peasant and landlords according to agreed proportions… thereafter the farmer will store part of the dates for the daily consumption and sell the surplus to dates traders… Jawakhin are collected to become firewood for furnace in the winter. However, rate of dates' production in Iraq has dropped in the present time for many reasons, including:
1. Expansion of cities at the expense of groves
2. Wars and their devastating effects that have left the largest massacres in Iraq history against the palm
3. Gulf states are tending to buy good and rare species of palm
4. Spread of diseases, particularly, Aldobas disease and the red weevil which destroys the palm
5. Some peasants abandoned their groves because their yield is not adequate financially to sustain an Iraqi family
On the other hand, interest in dates has been increasing in the present time and for the demand as well after new mechanization and mills were introduced in preserving, canning and processing of dates… in spite of all that, Jawakhin memory will remain stuck in the mind of farmers in the course of time.
Source: Al Mashreq Newspaper
