OUR LADY OF THE SACRED HEART SCHOOL

AUGUSTINIAN RECOLLECT SISTERS

Plaridel Street, Brgy. Dona Aurora, Q.C

UNIT 4

LESSON 1- AFRICA: THE DARK CONTINENT

LESSON 2- THE ARAB WORLD IN AFRICA

LESSON 3- EGYPT: THE GIFT OF THE NILE

SUBMITTED BY:

MARIA SAMANTHA ARCILLA

GRADE 8- OUR LADY OF PEÑAFRANCIA

SUBMITTED TO:

MS. SOLILIA FABIC

 LESSON 1

AFRICA: THE DARK CONTINENT

AFRICA

Africa is called the Dark Continent not because of the complexion of the original inhabitants but
because most people know very little about it, some of the people in Africa are not well educated.
Africa is the last of the continents to feel the influence of Western civilization; therefore many
people consider it a backward continent.

Africa has one-fifth of the entire land surface of the globe. It is an unbelievably rich continent. It
contains 98% of the diamond mines of the world and 55% of the gold mines. It produces two-
thirds of the world’s supply of cocoa and tree-fifths of the world’s supply of palm oil.

Archeologists are now becoming increasingly sure that the first man appeared in Africa.
Fossilized remains of man have been found there that, when given the carbon dating test, show
man roamed the African continent two million years ago.

NATIONAL PARKS IN AFRICA

The animals alone in Africa make the continent extremely interesting and unique among all
continents. The Africans have always lived very close to wild, savage animals. The people fear
them, eat them, and worship them. Animals play a dominant role in African mythology and folk
stories.

At a zoo, animals are caged and the men are free to walk around. At the African national parks,
wild animals roam around freely without wires or cages and people have to remain safely
enclosed in cars or trucks.

There are two basic rules to follow when in national parks: first, never get out of your car;
second, never use, fire-off, discharge, or explode any kind of firearm. Since the animals are never
shot at and have probably never heard the sound of a gun, they feel secure and feel no threat from
them.

The parks are very extensive; some are over 40 square miles. The animals are not accustomed to
people on foot, so visitors at the parks stay in their cars not only to protect themselves but also to
protect the animals.
The national Park outside Nairobi is famous for the fact that it is only five miles outside the city.
It is easily accessible by taxi and the ride takes only fifteen minutes. The park contains about
14,000 wild animals. Good roads wind through the park and in a few hours, one can see a mother
lion feeding her cubs, a pair of tigers making love, a giraffe peacefully eating the leaves of the tall
tree, elephants stalking along, innumerable species of monkey, and a spectacular variety of
smaller beasts.

AFRICAN ART

In recent years, primitive African art has been copied and imitated by Western nations.
Government museums and private collectors have completed in acquiring primitive African
ceremonial masks. Wooden figures with distorted limbs have aroused wonder and admiration.
African intricate carvings have been fantastically praised.

African art is closely associated with religion. It is very primitive in nature and is closely
associated with superstition. Masks are terrifying because they are intended to frighten away evil
spirits.

Contemporary dance music is based on African music with its short rhythm based largely on the
drum beat. African music is bound up with religious ceremony, composed as a prayer for rain and
for success in hunting and in war. The drum, being the force in African music, comes in different
types. Drums may be entirely wood, hollowed, and slit; they may be made of wood and hide—
elephant ears are especially valued for this purpose. It is believed that the invention of the drum
was related to the ritual of driving the spirits of dead away.

AFRICAN LITERATURE

Literature that has been written for or by African people is called literature. Their literature, often
oral in nature, may be in prose or poetry. Poetry types include the narrative epic, occupational
verse, ritual verse, and praise poems to rulers or other prominent people.
 LESSON 2

THE ARAB WORLD IN AFRICA

The Arabian Empire in North Africa

Northern Africa, being close to Europe, was affected early on by waves of migration from Italy,
France, Greece, Spain, and other southern European countries, as well as inhabitants of
Southwest Asia. The Arabs formed an Arabian empire in North Africa where they stablished the
Muslim religion.

The Arabs are extremely religious. Islam means “submission” or “resignation to the will of God,”
they are very strict in observing five practices:

1. They recite a prayer: “There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.”

2. They pray five times a day, turning their faces toward mecca. These prayers may be said
anywhere, even in the street or in bazaar.

3. They give alms to the poor in the amount of ten percent of their income.

4. They keep the holy month of Ramadan during which no food or water may be taken between
dawn and sunset.

5. They make a pilgrimage to mecca at least once in a lifetime. Any Moslem who has done this
adds the title hadji to his/ her name and wears a distinctive turban.

A MOORISH BANQUET

Guests at a Moorish meal sit on cushions laid on the floor or on low divans. They are given a
large white napkin that they lay their knees. This is used to clean the lips but never clean the
fingers. The left hand is used to hold bread only. The left hand is not to touch any food.
According to a Moslem belief, the left is unclean.

The menu generally consists of the following:

The first course—a pale green soup consisting of almonds and fish. This is a concession to
Europeans who cannot begin a meal without soup. Arabians do not, as a rule, take soup.
The second course—a whole roast lamb served intact and called mechour. The guests tear off
pieces of this with their hand.

The third course—another roast lamb reserved with another sauce that differentiates it from the
first.

The fourth course—a pastillas that takes no less than forty-eight hours to prepared.

MOORISH MARRIAGE CUSTOMS

A Moorish wedding begins with a procession. First come the musicians playing shrill pipes and
beating small drums like tambourines. Then come the bearded elders of the bride’s family, some
of them limping and supported by canes. These are followed by a woman dressed in red-and-
white striped cloth, bearing aloft large green and yellow candles. Next come more musicians
followed by a group of eight men carrying a paper box on long poles. The box is heavy because it
contains the bride, who is carried to the home of her fiancé, where the marriage will take place.

To the moslem moors, there is no courtship before marriage. All is arrange by the fathers. Usually
the father of the groom looks around to size up available young ladies from thirteen to fifteen
years old. Then, after having made a choice , he goes to the girl’s father and arranges all matters
pertaining to the wedding.

The engagement must last for months. During this period, the girl is deliberately fattened up
because to the Moroccans, plumpness is fashionable. A Moslem can have only a maximum of
four legal wives, and he must treat them equally and their children equally, too. However, he can
have as many slave concubines as he can afford.
 LESSON 3

Egypt: The Gift of the Nile

The Nile River is the only river in the world without which, it can be said, a whole nation would
die. It is also the longest river in the world. Egypt is made fertile when it is touched by the magic
finger of the Nile River, by a process known flooding. Once a year, the Nile swells up, rises over
its banks, and spills its burden of water on the Egyptian plains. This flood is called “miracle of the
Nile.” The river rises about seventy to eighty centimeters (2.4-2.6 f.) in different places. The
flood stays on the plains for about three weeks between August and September. Rain falls rarely
in Egypt; it might rain once in seven years, but the flood waters deposit a layer of rich soil that
grows a wealth of crops. The Nile River gave rise to the ancient civilization of Egypt that build
the pyramids, one of the seven wonders of the world.

THE LITERATURE OF EGYPT

The literature of Egypt consists, for the most part, of inscriptions printed or engraved on
monuments, or of manuscripts written on papyrus buried in the tombs or beneath the ruins of
temples. It is, therefore, closely related to the religion of the people.

The most important early literature of Egypt is the Book of the Dead, it is also contains a
collection of prayers of a magical character.

The Egyptians seemed to have been fond of writing letters. About eighty letters have been found
on different subjects. They tell of interesting facts about life and manners of the people.
 The Egyptians developed the short story in the form of two stories that seemed to have been
written about 3, 000 years before Christ. These short stories are “The Two Brothers” and “Setna
and the Magic Book.”

The story “The Two Brothers” is considered one of the oldest in the world. The work of an
unknown author. It is a fine example of a short story.

THE TWO BROTHERS

Adapted

Once there were two brethren, of one mother and one father; Anpu was the name of the elder, and Bata
was the name of the younger.

Now, as for Anpu, he had a house, and he had a wife. But his little brother was to him, as it were, a son;
he it was who made for him his clothes; he it was who followed behind his oxen to the fields; he it was
who did the plowing; he it was who harvested the corn; he it was who did for him all the matters which
were in the field.

Behold his younger brother grew to be an excellent worker; there was not his equal in the whole land;
behold the spirit of a god was in him. Because Anpu love his brother very much, his wife became jealous
and she wanted to destroy Bata.

Now afterward, at even time, his elder brother was returning to his house; and the younger brother was
following after his oxen, and he loaded himself with all the things of the field; and he brought his oxen
before him, to make them lie down in their stable which was in the farm.

And behold the wife of the elder brother was afraid for the words which she had said. She took a parcel of
fat, she became like one who is evilly beaten, desiring to say to her husband, "It is thy younger brother
who has done this wrong." Her husband returned in the even as was his wont of every day: he came into
his house; he found his wife ill of violence: she did not give him water upon his hands as he used to have,
she did not make a light before him, his house was in darkness, and she was lying very sick.

Her husband said to her, "Who has spoken with thee?" Behold she said, "No one has spoken with me
except thy younger brother. When he came to take for thee corn he found me sitting alone; he said to me,
'Come, let us stay together, tie up they hair': thus spoke he to me. I did not listen to him, but thus spake I
to him: 'Behold, am I not thy mother, is not they elder brother to thee as a father?' And he feared, and he
beat me to stop me from making report to thee, and if thou lettest him live I shall die. Now behold he is
coming in the evening; and I complain of these wicked words, for he would have don this even in the
daylight."

And the elder brother became as a panther in the south; he sharpened his knife; he took it in his hand; he
stood behind the door of the stable to slay his younger brother as he came in the evening to bring his
cattle into the stable. Then Bata arrived, he looked beneath the door of the stable; he saw the feet of his
elder brother; he was standing behind the door, and his knife was in his hand. He cast down his load to the
ground, and betook himself to flee swirly; and his elder brother pursued after him with his knife.
The younger brother cried out to Ra Harakhti (Sun-god), saying, "My good lord! thou art he who divides
the evil from the good." And Ra stood and heard his cry; and Ra made a wide water between him and his
elder brother, and it was full of crocodiles; and the one brother was on one bank, and the other on the
other bank; and the elder brother smote twice on his hands at not slaying him. And thus did he.

And the younger brother called to the elder brother on the bank, saying, "Stand still until the dawn of the
day; and when Ra ariseth, I shall judge with thee before him, and he discerneth between the good and the
evil. For I shall not be with thee any more forever; I shall not be in the place which thou art; I shall go to
the valley of the Acacia.