The Tigre are one of the nine Eritrean ethnic groups. They constitute 30% of the total Eritrean population and are believed to be a mix of Habesha peoples with later Beja and Arab immigrants. They live on the coastal plain north of the Gulf of Zula, in all the northern highlands and much of the Gash-Barka region.
Tigre clans, some of which are bilingual speaking Arabic and Beja, include the Ad-Sheykh, Beni-Amer, Bet-Asghede, Marya, Mensae, as well as some other smaller Sahel and Semhar clans. Although most of the Tigre people belonged to the Orthodox Church in the medieval period, by the late 1800s they had become uniformly Muslim.
Language Tigre people speak a language called Tigre. Tigre is Eritrea’s second most widely spoken language and is closer to ancient Ge’ez than its other Semitic relatives, Tigrinya and Amharic. This has led some scholars to argue that the Tigre language developed out of the Cushitic-Semitic fusion in the Eritrean region, which predated the Aksumite Empire.
The Agnet The Tigre people live in huts called Agnets. The Agnet is a semi-circular hut without any particular door. The materials needed for the construction of Agnets are long dried branches, mats or quilts, ropes to keep the mats or quilts stretched and pikes thrust into the ground to hold the construction firm.
The mats used in Agnet construction are waterproof, light and full of holes for ventilation. Men are expected to prepare the building materials while the women do the construction works. The Agnet is small in size - therefore a man having more than one wife is obliged to construct more Agnets.
Marriage Among the Tigre, the parents arrange marriages for their children. The Tigre are bound by tradition and ignore modern customs such as the romantic acquaintances normally made between two lovers before marriage. It is even common practice among some Tigre communities to conduct marriage by proxy, whereby a boy can have a girl whom he has barely seen all his life.
The entire village, in an act of selfless cooperation and generosity, makes most wedding preparations. Most of the time, it is the father of the boy who asks the father of the girl if the latter is ready to give his daughter’s hand for marriage on a fixed day. The date is generally arrived at by consulting the priests and diviners of the area. The wedding day can, however, be held in any month except June, a month which marks the death of prophet Mohammed.
Since it is the father of the bride who pays the dowry, he chooses a suitable day for the occasion, he prepares a feast and sends for the father of the girl to come and take the dowry, which consists of 3heads of cattle.
After the dowry handover ceremony, the father of the girl returns home with those who had accompanied him to the feast. However, the father of the girl is also expected by tradition to return, in his own good time, some of the cattle, as part of the dowry that is expected from him.
When the wedding feast is one week away, people start celebrating by singing and dancing. And in their singing, they always praise and eulogize the two families along with the bride and groom. The few days before the wedding is, however, the most demanding time for the bride-to-be. She has to eat less and less and go down to the stream to sing and bathe and get ready for the big day.
Inheritance Among the Tigre ethnic group, the last-born gets special privileges and shoulders special responsibilities. The last-born, is the youngest child of the first legal wife. This child has the responsibility to look after his mother who remains alone in the house after the death of her husband. And in addition to the shares he gets along with his brothers after the death of his father, he gets the house as inheritance.
Among some Tigre clans, the last-born even gets extra privileges such as the most fertile plot of land, farming tools and a calf of his own choice. In most clans of the Tigre, the council of elders, which undertakes the sharing of the inheritance, is composed of three persons. Sometimes, a sheikh is added to the council. In the event that the council and sheikh are unable to solve the problem, the case devolves to the khaddi. The latter is entitled to a tenth part of the shares after settling the case.
As to the custody of the goods to be inherited, they are kept with the first-born until such time that the case of inheritance is settled once and for all.
Holidays and feasts Even though the traditional holidays celebrated in most clans of the Tigre show similarities, some minor differences, mainly due to geographical distances, can be detected in the manner, style or intensity of celebrating the same holidays.
The most common traditional holidays are, child circumcision, name giving, initiation rites and investment. Pagomen or intercalary days, the completion of Koranic school for a child, the feats of Rab’at and the appearance of plague and draught are celebrated among the Marya, Mensae and Beni-amer respectively.
Child circumcision has religious origins. However, it is celebrated in a traditional way for male and female, with more attention given to male circumcision. In most villages during the male circumcision, small banquets are held in honour of friends and relatives. When this is over, the circumcision is performed.
Food and diet Most Eritreans lead their livelihood by farming and cattle herding and generally consume what they produce. Almost all members of the Tigre ethnic group are traditionally nomads. Cattle are considered symbols of wealth and are therefore not reared for food.
The Tigre use more milk in their diet than anything else and consume meat only occasionally. Among the Tigre, women prepare the food. Sorghum porridge is their main food, accompanied by dairy products. It is forbidden for the wife to eat with her husband. The husband eats with his adult male children, while the wife eats with her daughters and small children.
Adkatat and M’shelak Ritualised incisions of the skin of the eyebrows and of the cheeks are widely practiced among the Tigre. Although the incisions on the eyebrows, Adkatat, have medical motives, intended to cure inflammation or infection of the eye, those on the cheeks, M’shelak, are performed for ritual or aesthetic reasons only.