After five years: Sheedi festival returns but far away from Karachi

Security threats prevented the festival from being held at its traditional location, Manghopir

KARACHI: As most of Karachi slept in on the long weekend, members of the Sheedi community donned colourful clothes and huge smiles as they boarded their vans at 5am on Monday.

The group of nearly 250 members of this community of African-descendants in Pakistan were going to Hyderabad to celebrate their annual Sheedi Mela, which was taking place after five years. "The security threats looming for some years had forced the community to stop organising their Sheedi Mela in Karachi, where it was being held for centuries," explained Muhammad Yaqoob Qambrani, who led the procession to Hyderabad.

The four-day festival was traditionally held at the shrine of Pir Mangho in Manghopir but could not take place for the last five years due to security threats. The four-day festival used to be a colourful affair with lots of 'dhamals' and offerings to the crocodiles of Manghopir. All of this came to a halt with the surge of terrorists in the city around 2009.

This year, the community decided to move the venue to the mausoleum of Hosho Sheedi, a freedom fighter martyred by the British army in 1843.

"Our people living in two provinces had not met for a long time and may not have been able to meet each other for years if the situation stayed the same," said Qambrani. "Finally, our elders decided to hold the festival to help them sit together."

Feed the crocs

The most interesting part of the festival was feeding the crocodiles living in the pond on the premises of the Hazrat Khawaja Hassan, known as Sakhi Sultan Manghopir. The Sheedis, who claim to have dwelled along the Arabian Ocean's coasts for centuries, have developed great respect for the crocodiles.

The ritual of 'tilak', dabbing colour on the forehead of the chief crocodile, was also performed on Moro Sahib, recalled Qambrani. He became emotional as he pointed out that this year's festival will be missing these crucial rituals.

Nuptials talk

There are nearly 2,500 members of the community who travel all the way from Tando Bago, Sajawal, Hyderabad, Shikarpur, Chuhar Jamali and other small towns for the festival. "It's not just the enjoyment as people, who are angry at each other, shun their differences, the community's problems are discussed and elders think of ways for their welfare," said Qambrani. "Even, marriage proposal are discussed," he said, adding that his own wedding was fixed at the festival in 1985.

The event starts with the making of halwa. The formal inauguration is performed with the sacrifice of a sheep amid the sound of traditional drum beating, called 'magarman'. Then a procession dances towards the pond and offers the sheep's head to the chief crocodile.

"Dhamal is the most important thing that continued on all four days — till late at night even — when the mela was held in Karachi," said a young man. "Today is going to be a lot of fun," he added.

The community's hopes are high with the new venue as, they felt, it makes us think whether or not the nation has succeeded in making its destiny. But, there is still nostalgia for the hilly slopes of Manghopir. "I wonder if the Sheedi community will ever get to hold this festival [in Manghopir] again," asked a middle-aged man.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2015.