Myths and legends given shape

Thousand-year-old local myths and legends have been given shape and form by the hand of a Bahraini comic artist.

Entitled Um Hmaar Returns!, Zainab Almahdi paints a comic folk tale with images depicting Bahraini myths.

They include the likes of Um El Sa’af Wel Leef, an ancient tree spirit that dwells behind palm trees in the dark, Khababa, a creature that breathes flames and scares children, and Um Hmaar, a jinn who is one-half human and one-half donkey.

“The entire story came out of this one word, ‘folk’,” said the 24-year-old Bahraini. “It took me into a spiral of thoughts on how to write a Bahraini folk story.”

Zainab’s thought process will find her researching and exploring her own Bahraini language, folk songs, costumes, religious celebrations and mythologies.

“I came to realise that they all overlap, and chose to include all of them in one narrative,” she explained.

The story takes place in 1960s Bahrain, where palm trees swarmed the island and the latest technological advancement in the region was the radio and the old CRT television.

Furthermore, the tale transpires in the 15th night of Ramadan, known as Gergaoun, a day when the moon is full and children go door-to-door collecting sweets, nuts and coins in celebration of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed’s eldest grandchild, Imam Hassan bin Ali.

“I chose this day for the story because Gergaoun is a quintessential Bahraini celebration,” the trainee GDN journalist explained.

“And, I chose the ’60s because those are the days that my parents lived through and, in turn, told us stories about.”

Despite the terror that the names of the mythological creatures would bring to a Bahraini living 60 years ago, Zainab approached her story by giving those legendary beings human qualities presented in a fun tale of mischief and adventure.

“Bahraini mythological characters are utilitarian constructs,” she added.

“Whether it is scaring children from going out at noon, or scaring adults not to walk alone in pitch black darkness in palm fields, each spirit served a purpose to protect loved ones and promote behaviours that lead to self-preservation.

“But I wanted to bring them in a fantasy tale to give an authentic narrative in a multi-dialect work that reimagined how those ancient spirits lived like in my parents’ time while also exploring their role in society.”

The comic is part of the Winter 2021 issue of the British magazine titled Arablit Quarterly, a not-for-profit project, which releases new editions four-times-a-year and specialises in presenting English translations of Arabic literature and essays that relate to Arab culture.

And, while Zainab’s comic is written in Arabic, each page is accompanied by an English translation that is aimed to not just aid the non-Arabic readers, but to help those unfamiliar with the many phrases and idioms exclusive to the Bahraini dialect.

“Bahraini dialects are under-represented in world media, and some are also under-represented in local media,” she added. “Also, for the story to be really Bahraini it has to be spoken in the language of the local population.

“I made sure that the dialogue is chock-full of local expressions, idioms, phrases and songs.”

This is not Zainab’s first artistic endeavour. As well as being a prolific writer she has enjoyed drawing from a young age and hopes to run a series of cartoons in our sister newspaper, the GDN, in the near future.

“I come from a family of artists and artisans,” she said. “My parents and siblings are artists and my grandparents were tailors and architects.

“Art has always been a thing that is done daily in my home – I watched my siblings draw and do arts-and-crafts and use many different artistic media growing up.”

For the future, Zainab hopes to make other contributions to the comic’s universe, meanwhile, there is a fully coloured standalone reprint of the comic in the works.

The book can be purchased from arablit.quarterly.com, and you can find more information on Zainab’s Instagram account

@KatoYukimaru.