Dr. Yasser Mahgoub – Doctoral Dissertaion –University of Michigan - 1990 - 144
It also protected the residents of the house from the harm of the evil eye of strangers. By distracting the attention of the strangers to these decorations and objects, the plates and decorations protected the inhabitants of the house from the evil eye. As Am Dosoki put it: People also used ceramic plates for decorating the entrance gate. They used to put ceramic plates with the drawings especially on the entrance wall and the exterior facades. The plates were placed to protect them from the evil eye. By placing many plates on the door, they wanted the strangers who were entering the house to look at the plates so that if any one of them had an evil eye he would not harm the owners of the house. The china plates were usually brought from Egypt or Sudan. Dahleez : The Entrance hall The entrance hall, or dahleez, was a transitional area "which served as a middle ground between the public and private spheres of the house." 50 Because the gate had no doors, it allowed the dahleez to be integrated with the public sphere outside, but the strong emphasis placed on the gate suggested that whatever was behind it belonged to the private sphere of the house. Once inside the dahleez, the guest had to consider himself inside the house. Am Samal said: The entrance hall was always open. It had no door or if there was a door it was always open. Then there was a door which led to the courtyard and the rest of the rooms. When you receive a guest and he does not find you, he can stay in the shade until you arrive. In the dahleez there is water and a toilet. If the guest is coming from a far place he can perform the ablution and pray. There were two zeers (water containers) at the entrance hall. Mandarah : The Guests' room Receiving guests was an important part of life in old Nubia. Due to the isolation of the villages and the difficult long roads they had to travel, expecting a guest was something each home had to be prepared for. Am Samal described it as:
50 Fernea, Robert A., ed., Nubians in Egypt: Peaceful People, University of Texas Press; Austin and London, 1973, p.51.