Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood

The author further describes Mina, the harem resident who was originally enslaved in Sudan and introduced in the previous chapter. Fatima says that Mina is full of “hanan” (159), or kindness and good will, and is quite “popular” (160) in the harem. However, Mina is “possessed” by a “djinni,” a “terrible” (157) foreign spirit. Mina’s djinni makes her wear saffron-yellow clothing—a scandalously bright color—and during the yearly Mouloud festival, Mina always takes part in a “hadra, or possession dance” (159), to drive out the djinni. This ritual takes place at the house of Sidi Belal, a great djinni “exorcist” (159) and another former Sudanese slave, and because the nationalist men like Fatima’s father disapprove of these supposedly anti-Islam dances, Mina must go in secret. The harem’s other women always join her, and the children sneak along as well—including Fatima, who is fascinated by this “evidently subversive” (160) ritual.

Hundreds of women gather in Sidi Belal’s house, and of particular note are the “meriahat,” the women who dance with great “violence” (161) in an attempt to rid themselves of evil spirits. Fatima is impressed by the way these women seem to abandon all inhibitions, as if they’ve “freed themselves for once of all external pressures” (161) and find in the dance a sense of exhilaration and freedom.