Sudan · Metalwork / Blacksmithing
Kaskara (the straight, double-edged sword)
The forging of kaskara, straight double-edged iron swords several feet in length, by Beja blacksmiths of eastern Sudan, sold and worn today primarily by Beja merchants at Daim Arab Market in Port Sudan. Forged in fire over a process taking nearly two weeks per sword, the finished blade is fitted with an ornately decorated grip and pommel and a leather sheath. Historically decisive weapons in Sudan's late 19th-century war of independence against Ottoman-Egyptian rule, kaskara are today carried primarily as ceremonial and identity objects — worn at weddings, on journeys, and as a marker of eastern Sudanese Beja identity — with a directly quoted contemporary Beja source describing the belief that 'a knight should carry a sword in his travels and movements,' extending even to grooms and their wedding-party companions carrying swords as customary practice.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not independently inscribed
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