April 2016 - The Cameleer

Most dictionaries give the definition of a Cameleer simply as "one who drives a camel". But more accurately, it is the person who is responsible for all the camels on a caravan. The Cameleer may even be the owner of all the camels, so of course this person has a profound interest in their well-being and care. The affection between this man and his camel is evident.

And why not? Along with horses, camels have been crucial partners for us, significantly enhancing our survival. They carry our burdens, endure grueling conditions, and they can also race. They are decorated and celebrated and fairs are held to trade, barter, and purchase them. Perhaps the most famous is the Pushkar Camel Festival in Rajasthan, India.

The decorative indulgence is stupendous.

Both of the patterns below, which were incorporated as design elements in the April panel, are from camels who were decorated for a festival. Henna is a favored method, and the camels often receive a 'haircut' as part of their grooming for the party. 

 

Those who decorate the camels are called 'beauticians'. There is great competition for the prettiest camel - perhaps because camels are slightly ungainly, in their natural state. They do, however, have incredibly long eyelashes. No mascara needed!

The festival is held at the time of the Kartik Purnima full moon. So if you want to attend, you must consult a lunar calendar! But what IS the Kartik Purnima?

It turns out that Purnima means simply Full Moon Day in the Hindu calendar, and it marks the end of the lunar cycle for that month. There is a belief that fasting that morning until the moon is sighted in the evening protects one from 'mood swings' and other vagaries of the full moon. On that day, Hindus worship Lord Vishnu in various forms and avatars, but the Kartik Purnima (in November) coincides with the Jain Light Festival and Guru Nanak's birthday, so it is also observed by Jains and Sikhs.
http:/www.mykundali.com/festival/purnima/#sthash.2vLz51IO.dpuf

I was inspired by this photo by Juliana Velez (about whom I can find next to nothing on the web) after hearing from a Kiwi Sufi friend
about a pilgrimage in which their Cameleer was a young woman.  When one of the camels became sick, she stayed behind to tend it, sending the rest of the group onward. This portrait of a young woman with an adored camel was the starting point for what the panel wanted to express.

As I began to excavate the story, an image of a Tuareg woman, found in my patchwork-style of searching the Web, 'asked' to be there. She was the first 'ancestor' to make her presence felt in the calendar - a placeholder for the quintessential Grandmother whose hard work leaves a legacy that bestows benefits on her whole family.

This magnificent woman captured me completely. She embodies her culture, the Tuareg of Mali, with whom I have felt an inherent resonance for better than 40 years. I seem to recognize their music, their jewelry, their design. The woman here feels to me like a Grandmother not by her age, but by her wealth - she has the bearing of a queen, a tribal matriarch, a woman of resources. She feels powerfully independent.

Tuareg horse blanket

Once I found her, I was off and running faster than a Tuareg camel race. All of the silver work in the panel is of Tuareg origin. A Tuareg horse blanket figures in the composition of the month's title. I love everything about this. 

I've understood for a long time that jewelry is the currency of nomadic people. You wear your money, just in case you've got to jump on your camel and make a sort-of-quick get-away. Considering the top speed of camels (40 mph in short bursts, or 25 mph for one hour), hope for a lot of notice prior to relocating.  Also, hope that your camel is female. The curious fact is that they are preferred for racing - the males are considered temperamental and difficult to manage. 

road trip with camel !

The piece below - a Tuareg medicine ring - completely fascinated me. Looks like a calculator of some kind. But most likely you need shamanic training to decipher these formulas!

design from a Tuareg medicine ring

For me, the message in this panel speaks to the importance of what we are given by our grandparents, as the most recent embodiment of our ancestors. From the Grandmother, my young Cameleer receives an honorable occupation. We all have an inheritance of some kind, even if not in material terms. We are lucky if we get to know and spend time with our grandparents. What we truly receive from them is a sense of the Family Soul that we will carry on with us.





The camel is known as the 'ship of the desert'. So where did these marvelous, useful creatures come from? If you said India, Arabia, or anyplace other than North America, you would be wrong.

Yep, you heard me right. Scientists had previously found evidence of them as far north as the Canadian Yukon, but the recent discovery of a camel leg bone on Ellesmere Island places them in the Arctic, not far from the magnetic north pole.

This Arctic camel lived 45 millions years ago, and those big flat hooves that travel well across sand were originally more like snowshoes. The hump didn't store water - it stored fat, allowing them to carry their own food supply, a biological strategy for surviving the long, cold winter: the Arctic experiences 24-hour darkness for nearly 6 months of the year.

3-toed horse

This original camel was 30% larger than the camels of today, and shared the terrain with badgers, beavers and deerlets (a prehistoric Bambi, I suppose) and 3-toed horses.

To me, there is something very bird-like about this 3-toed horse. Perhaps that accounts for the mythical Pegasus, a flying horse. Flying is something camels will never be imagined to do. You're better off with a flying carpet.

http://quatr.us/economy/camels.htm

Unexpectedly, the Arctic was warmer then than now, by 14 - 22 degrees. But that was before the last ice age, which this original camel did not survive. By then (about 4 million years ago) the camel had already found its way to more temperate climates.They migrated to South America, evolving into alpacas and lamas, and crossed the Bering land bridge into Eurasia, again making their way south.

Camels must have seemed every bit as good as a flying horse to those who took advantages of their useful qualities. For many - especially nomadic tribal people - the camel is the most important resource they have, and their survival depends on it. Thus, the Sufi parable about Tying the Camel:

An aspirant is traversing the desert to visit the Master. All along the journey, the aspirant is posing this question: When I arrive, do I tie the camel, or trust to God? The Master will be watching!
So as soon as the Master comes within view, the aspirant excitedly calls out, "Master, Master! Do I tie the camel or trust to God?"

The Master answers, you tie the camel. AND you trust to God.

In other words, we have our responsibility, and then we leave the results to the Divine. The camel can still be stolen, even if you've tied it. After we fulfill our tasks, the fate of our camel is in the province of divine providence. Possibly there is someone who needs it, or deserves it, more than we do. That is one of the biggest challenges for faith: continuing to trust in this Divine Compassionate Intelligence we call 'God', even when the outcome of a situation is not what we have desired.

Our inheritance may involve some burdens. Our fortunes may rise or fall according to what we've been given from the family we've chosen, But we still have a responsibility to the Family Soul - to convey it faithfully through our lives, relying upon its strengths, transforming its weaknesses if we can. It's our own origin story, that we fall back to in difficult circumstances. We're not unlike a camel, packing our karmic medicine bundle to our final destination.

Before I go, let me introduce you to my Grandmother. The thought of her inspires me still, to this day.

Leah Sturdevant Inglehart

Happy New Moons,
Ms. Kiva's Mom


Notes:
The modern business of racing camels has been transformed by the use of 'robot jockeys' - that can transmit verbal commands, from the trainers who drive alongside the race track, through a microphone, The robot jockey can even whip the camels. It certainly seems less than kind, but there are huge purses at stake,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ll4-OiLn4E&ebc=ANyPxKrod_1naIPtfefBMe_jkfj4AD16UStSRl2AW6RyUGSykHmp-haeN76EKPweiKrz_EQixad0YMXh-i5BVeHRfcgk_tJHxQ&nohtml5=False

Here's more of an old school camel race, with considerably more chaos. The 'starting line' is completely out of control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=845X9JEGzsU&ebc=ANyPxKrod_1naIPtfefBMe_jkfj4AD16UStSRl2AW6RyUGSykHmp-haeN76EKPweiKrz_EQixad0YMXh-i5BVeHRfcgk_tJHxQ&nohtml5=False

http://www.history.com/news/giant-ancient-camel-roamed-the-arctic

https://rajasthantourismbuzz.wordpress.com/2013/02/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7327297.stm - Juliana Velez's photo in a BBC contest.