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6 Feb 2012

Have you heard of Xagaag Xalimo ?

It started out as a random statement that came out of nowhere "I hope I do not marry a man from clan X" . Interested I asked " why not ? "
And the response was one of the strangest story I've heard over the years:

Well haven't you heard of the phrase "Xagaag Xalimo (Summer Halimo) " . As I waved my head in response, she said ; See in that part of Somalia , when it get's really hot in the summer, women go to cities where it's cooler, taking their children along and leaving the husbands behind since they're working. While they're gone, some of their husbands marry a second wife and settle her into the first wife's home. Just before wife one comes back from her summer holidays he either divorces wife 2 or settles her in a home on the other side of town , keeping her a summer secret never to be known by his "Formal wife" . Hence the name Xagaag Xalimos - they're a Summer fling.  
Over the years I thought I had heard every kind of Strange Somali story. But this was one that I've never imagined of hearing over my 20 years of living. Naturally my mind started imagining if I was in place of any of those women who went on a summer holiday only to come back and find another woman walking through the halls of their living room. Of all the emotions I imagined feeling, rage would be the one to take control. The absurdity of that situation would be beyond words, and what would follow would range from simple name calling to the death of a man who could not control his lust, and in the most extreme of cases it would include the death of a Xagaag Xalimo as well.

For the Sake of the men in that city , I hope that story is simply gossip mentioned over afternoon teas for a good laugh.
Have you heard of Xagaag Xalimo ? and Do you think it is based on true stories ?