Culture of Somaliland

Later in the day a lighter meal is served which includes beans, Ful medames, muffo (patties made of oats or corn), Hummus or a salad with more Laxoox/Injera.

Frankincense (Somali: foox, Arabic: اللبان ) or a special man-made incense called unsi (in Arab countries it is called Bukhoor, this also may be used) is placed on top of hot coal inside the Dabqaad which will burn continuously for about ten minutes until the foox or unsi is completely consumed.

Also, an important form of art in Somaliland is henna painting (Somali: Xenna, Arabic: حناء).

Girls and women usually apply or decorate their hands and feet in henna on joyous celebrations like Eid, weddings etc.

Somali belongs to a set of languages called Lowland Eastern Cushitic spoken by peoples living in Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Kenya.

Common Somali is spoken in most of Somalia and in adjacent territories (Ogaden, North Eastern Province, and Djibouti), and is used by broadcasting stations in the Somaliland.

Facility with language is highly valued in Somali society; the capability of a suitor, a warrior, or a political or religious leader is judged in part by his verbal adroitness.

Speakers in political or religious assemblies and litigants in courts traditionally were expected to use poetry or poetic proverbs.

Even everyday talk tended to have a terse, vivid, poetic style, characterized by carefully chosen words, condensed meaning, and alliteration.

The relatively small proportion of Somalis (less than 10 percent) with a grasp of such a language—preferably English—had access to government positions and the few managerial or technical jobs in modern private enterprises.

Such persons became increasingly isolated from their nonliterate Somali-speaking brethren, but because the secondary schools and most government posts were in urban areas the socioeconomic and linguistic distinction was in large part a rural-urban one.

The 1972 decision to designate an official Somali Latin script and require its use in government demolished the language barrier and an important obstacle to rapid literacy growth.

Although a few texts existed in the new script before 1973, in most cases new books were prepared presenting the government's perspective on Somali history and development.

Somali scholars also succeeded in developing a vocabulary to deal with a range of subjects from mathematics and physics to administration and ideology.

Though traces of pre-Islamic traditional religion exist in Somaliland, Islam is extremely important to the Somali sense of national identity.

Women in Somaliland mainly wear a long, billowing dress worn over petticoats which are known as direh in the Somali language.

Common verbal greetings include: Somalis use sweeping hand and arm gestures to dramatize speech.