Modern Sudanese 'Arm Daggers'

[Atlantia]

"I've just come back from a 5-week embed with the SPLA-N rebels of Sudan's Blue Nile state, and was surprised and gratified to find the traditional Sudanese 'arm dagger' is still very much a current accoutrement to war."

Which makes you officially the most committed researcher of Sudanese arm daggers in the world ever!


Seriously though. Interesting pictures and info thanks for sharing.

[Rumpel]

Atlantia: thanks!

Below are my daggers (cigarette for scale...).

The symbols are makers' marks but- so the smiths say- "mean nothing."

Note incipient rust: tsk. The daggers were bought on the day of manufacture, in late June. Damp place, Blue Nile.

[Atlantia]

Hi Rumpel,
What are they making them out of> What's the source for the steel?
Is it just a guy with a few basic tools and a fire or are they made in little workshops?

[Rumpel]

Originally Posted by Atlantia

Hi Rumpel,
What are they making them out of> What's the source for the steel?
Is it just a guy with a few basic tools and a fire or are they made in little workshops?

The steel comes from railway sleepers, so they say.

They're forged in little outdoor ateliers in Bunj suq. Two or three smiths, each with a teenage apprentice or two. Then they're handed to two sheath-makers, one who hammers the metal sheaths together, and one who sews together leather/lizardskin sheaths. They also make fearsome-looking barbed spearheads from (I think) old steel oil drums, though unfortunately i didn't bring one back.

Officers tend to carry axes instead of daggers, as a mark of status. I'll dig up some photos.

[Atlantia]

Originally Posted by Rumpel

The steel comes from railway sleepers, so they say.

They're forged in little outdoor ateliers in Bunj suq. Two or three smiths, each with a teenage apprentice or two. Then they're handed to two sheath-makers, one who hammers the metal sheaths together, and one who sews together leather/lizardskin sheaths. They also make fearsome-looking barbed spearheads from (I think) old steel oil drums, though unfortunately i didn't bring one back.

Officers tend to carry axes instead of daggers, as a mark of status. I'll dig up some photos.

VERY Interesting! Those are very reminiscent of Jerz axes.
Where's Stu?

[Tim Simmons]

Really amazing. This is the stuff that makes being here so addictive. A little scary?

[Rumpel]

Originally Posted by Tim Simmons

A little scary?

Only the millipedes. Horrible buggers. We got bombed and shelled a few times, but SAF are awful shots, alhamdulillah.

The SPLA-N are incredible guys- a confederation of tribal warriors who believe in magic amulets, witchdoctors, sacred rivers and so on.

Watching them dance a war dance before wiping out a government garrison was quite something; a western army could roll them up in a day, but I was privileged to observe a traditional African tribal confederation at war before a) missionaries and b) modern technology could wipe them out as a culture. They won't last long, in the same form, but in so far as they still exist they're a magnificent sight. The best of luck to them.

[Berkley]

Wonderfully educational post and photos. Thank you.

[Iain]

Very interesting reading and photos. Thanks for posting this.

[Dom]

Originally Posted by Rumpel

The symbols are makers' marks but- so the smiths say- "mean nothing."

may be, to avoid to give a long explanation, and more specially to a foreigner (may be not Muslim)
who hasn't been initialized about "talismans and charms"

for time being, I'm reading a book, title
- Pagan survivals in Mohammedan civilization by Edvard Westermarc - (1937)
Professor of Sociology at London University - the book is in French, after been translated

but what I'm seeing in your pic, is (according with the book) ;
- a human representation, with; arms and legs opened
- 2 x 5 fingers, talismanic evocation, to combat the "evil eye"
5 being, as his multiples, a "sacred number"
- cross, possible to be a "charm" to attract the attention of "evil eye", also, to help the dispersion of forces malignant

the "logic" in all that, it's to avoid to be under target of "Jinns" - evil spirits

all what is on above, it's pure speculation from my part, and absolutely subjective

otherwise, very interesting report about the propagation of same edged weapons,
by new fabrications through centuries, even at era of AK47

à +

Dom

[Martin Lubojacky]

Hi Rumpel,
Thank you for shering this photos and very interesting remark about SPLM/North fighters !
Regards, Martin

[A.alnakkas]

Very interesting! certainly great to see these people still maintaining a part of their cultures.

[Jim McDougall]

Absolutely phenomenal!!! Nicely done Rumpel, and glad to see you returned from these regions safely and thank you for such a fascinating view into troubled areas with tribal cultures prevailing still. We have long tried to asset that not all traditional weapons made in modern times are 'tourist stuff', and here is the proof.

[katana]

Hi Aris,
very informative, thank you.
typically the troubles in the Sudan are rarely reported in the UK or, I suspect, the US ..... why ? Sudan's lack of oil perhaps

All the best
David