Yibir
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Yibir are a numerically small tribe of Somalia in East Africa. They have traditionally been kept on the lower rungs of Somali society. Some believe that the Yibir are descendants of Jews who arrived in the area many centuries ago and hold that the word "Yibir" means "Jew." Some view Yibirs with contempt yet regard them as having supernatural powers and consider it unwise to provoke members of the tribe.
Yibirs are also said to be the descendants of King Mohammed Bin Haniif of Somaliland, also known as Boqor Bur Ba'ayr. It is said that he was a herbalist, priest, and astrologer who predicted many natural disasters. Folklore has it that newly wed women had to spend a week in his castle while he ensured they were free of sexual disease, before they were released to their husbands. Nomad Somalis resisted this practice and overthrew the king. After the death of King Muhammed Bin Haniif (Bu'ur Ba'yr). Legend has it that Bur Ba'ayr used to practise witchraft that enabled him to make people believe that he can enter a mountain from one side and emerge on the other side,(like the Houdini act) so one day Sheikh Yussuf-ul-Kownein (also known as Aw Barqadle) came to see the event and as soon as the act started, he read verses of the koran and Bur Ba'ayr was trapped in the mountain and failed to emerge thus signalling his death, this story cannot be verified but is very popular.Nomad Somalis agreed to settle the death of the king by paying money and other gifts to the yibir tribe on every occasion where a male child is born from the nomad tribes. This customary for Yibirs to visit families with newborn children to be given money to collect dues and head taxes, still continues in most of Somalia.It is believed that if the pregnant woman does not pay the tax she will give birth to a stillborn baby or a baby with deformities.A yibir uses witchcraft to know where there's a woman who is pregnant with a male foetus (and is always accurate) and goes to seek the "compensation", he (it is always a he and not a she) usually demonstrates his identity by placing a forked staff on his horizontally extended arm and without any support, the staff begins to oscillate in convoluted movements along his arm. This is his identity. So when he is given the money, he usually gives a piece of knotted string as "receipt" that the home has been visited so that if any other yibir visits the homestead he is shown that and they usually respect it once shown that the due has been collected. Modern somalis believe that this is an unjustifiable taxation placed on somalis by conspiratorial jewish yibirs under the threat of witchcraft.The yibir are also called "Aadha Qaate" a derogatory term that means "those who collect tax on female menses".
Yibirs are considered to be original inhabitant of Somaliland.However, most Yibirs today are muslims though they are still despised and are believed to practise esoteric witchcraft which the somalis fear.Majority of the yibir community live in Somaliland, parts of Puntland and a minority of them live among other somali clans.Somalis do not intermarry with the yibirs but the yibirs have intermarried with other despised communities (mad-dibaans, boon, Midgaans). Yibir do not practise any of the jewish traditions. They are on average people of very beautiful physical feautures and light skin complexion.The yibir practise masonry and are good blacksmiths (both trade are despised by somalis and are considered menial jobs).
