Rings on Yemeni jambiya: what for?

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by Richard G

Hello,
Here are photo's of the front and back of a Yemeni jambiya attached to its belt. My understanding is that the jambiya is very often bought separately from the belt hence it is logical that the jambiya would be fully finished in it's own right and yet contain the "eyes" necessary to attach to a belt.
Incidentally, I would not be surprised to learn the British banned the jambiya in Aden during the insurgency, but not so sure about the hinterland. British colonial administration was nothing if it was not pragmatic.
I always thought the real ban on the Jambiya was imposed by the NLF Government which followed British withdrawal in 1967 and was part of a deliberate policy to destroy tribal loyalties and identities as they were considered incompatible with loyalty to the Marxist government.
Regards
Richard

Salaams Richard G ~ I had a look around for the ban details as it seemed (as you say) this was the Marxist government after the British left...

From http://www.pachydermjournal.org/inde.../viewFile/32/8

Quote"In the south,
before Marxism, jambiyas were worn by the Bedus in
the interior rather than the townspeople or fishing peo-
ple. Marxist rule forbad jambiyas. In 1972 there was
a massive campaign to rid the south of jambiyas and
many of the more influential families were targeted.
They had to get rid of their jambiyas quickly, selling
them for low prices to be traded in North Yemen and
Saudi Arabia (Vigne and Martin 1993)."Unquote.

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.