Cooking Beans in Kurdish Culture

Aras Haso

This fertile land which is called Mesopotamia or "Mazra Bohtan", has provided many kinds of edible and natural food and drinks for the people for thousands of years. Humans' relationships had always begun with farming and agriculture which is a heritage of the creative women, from agriculture to the social, folklore, and political fields. According to the socialists' and archeologists' beliefs the "Ari" women who are known to be Kurds' ancestors found wheat in this land. Nowadays we can see that mothers are giving their blessings to their offspring.

One of these cultures that is still common is "Dani" or "Danouk" as a folklore tradition. After the farmers harvest their beans and seeds, once a year, especially, Kurdish mothers in the neighborhoods and villages gather around and cook the beans and seeds. All the mothers are professionals in this field.

Why do they cook wheat every year?

Although nowadays, bread is made in a modern way and people do not need to make a lot of effort, we can see that this tradition is still preserved by the mothers which is one of the ancient cultures of this land. We call it "Dani" and in many other areas they call it "Danouk" or perhaps it has other names in other areas. We can call the beans cooking a kind of ceremony. When the children see that there is smoke flying over a house's air, they know that the house is making Dani so they grab their bowls and spoons and gather around the big pot on the fire that is cooking the beans. They play and jump around until the dish is ready. After the beans are cooked, the children will receive their share of the food. There is a common belief among the people of the area that says, sharing the cooked beans will bring blessings to that house.

How does the wheat is cooked?

First, the mothers will wash the wheat and look for any kind of waste in it. Later they pour it into a huge pot and make a fire under the pot. Then, after the wheat is cooked, it needs to be put on the rooftops so that it will dry under the sun for three days. They grind the wheat so that they can make different kinds of food with it such as: "sarpet, bikhor, danouk, gizrk, simout, flour, kapak, etc." We can also say that hundreds of different foods can be made: "dough, tanour bread, sel bread, beans soup, qitmr, kilor (a kind of cake), etc."

This beautiful tradition is gradually fading away and only a few places are still doing it. This is why the mothers always try to preserve the culture and every year they cook the beans in the Autumn so that this Kurdish culture will remain forever.

KURDŞOP
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