The Bedouins are indigenous people who live in the deserts of the Middle East and northern Africa. They live in tents made of cloth woven from goat and camel skin. The tents are used when they are traveling and they take it down when they leave. When they live in tents, the tents are sewn together and painted black. The Bedouins build rectangular houses that are several stories high with stone or adobe walls. During weddings Bedouins decorate their houses with colorful pieces of cloth and flags. Sometimes the Bedouin tribe finds a cave to live in when they are herding their animals. They add strips of cloth to the cave.

The Bedouins stick to a dairy diet. Some of their foods are dates, rice, meat, and milk. There is a traditional food, Mansaf. Mansaf is made from stewed lamb with a sauce made with died yogurt. It is served on a bed of rice and bread and sprinkled with pine nuts. Bedouins eat lamb or chicken, stewed with rice. Other foods are potatoes, falafel, chickpeas, garlic, and humus. They have alcoholic drinks. Tea and coffee are also popular. Tea is flavored with mint or sage. Coffee is served for hospitality. Bedouins shake their cups to say that they don’t want more.

A Bedouin’s clothing is made of animal skin, hair and wool. They wear long robes to protect against wind and blowing sand. They wear light robes because the sun attracts to dark things. Women wear veils. The traditional dress for the man is the jallabiya or the dish-dash. The Bedouins also sometimes wear plain or checked headscarf and dress to match the seasons. They wear clothes called Bernueos, too.

For a living, Bedouins raise livestock. For example they raise goats, sheep, and camels. They write poems to read and music that other Bedouins can listen to. The Bedouins also build piles of stones that only Bedouins can go past.

Bedouins are not becoming extinct but they are losing their way of life. They are getting insults to their pride. They fight with the tribes that insult them so some of them die. Some of them are moving to the city for a better life. They are also being band from their traditional land by the government. One by one, the Bedouins are drifting away.

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