Discovering the Traditional Culture of the UAE

Monday, October 27th, 2014
Post by Kim

Over the weekend, the mother of my homeschool girls informed us of the National Traditional Handicrafts Festival at the Al Qattara Fort in Al Ain.  I was particularly excited to go see this event with them because, as I have previously mentioned, my sense of UAE history and traditions has been muddled with the modern buildings and conveniences of the country.

We went to the festival on Saturday night and found forts and lots of little outdoor handcraft shops, with walls made out of mud and roofs consisting of tree trunks and dried leaves.

We walked around to look at clothes, music boxes, weaves, pottery, and other miscellaneous items.

 

 

Oh and let’s not forget the animals!  Falcons and horses…

At one of the shops, a lady offered us a platter of some date treats (i.e., dates, coconut, and nuts rolled into balls); they were really delicious, so Adam and I had to buy a tin full of them!

At another shop, the girls had henna done on their hands – beautiful flowery ink patterns that usually last for weeks.

 

 

No matter where you were in the Al Qattara area, you could hear the men’s rhythmic chanting and tribal folk music.  As you can see in the following picture and video, they used tambourines, sticks and swords for their music/dance performance.

 

The rhythm was kind of catchy; here’s one of the girls dancing as she was reading a sign.  How cute!

In another area of the festival, there was a man making bricks out of mud.  To think about how this country has changed in around five decades is amazing!

It’s kind of a funny thing to say, but seeing something old and traditional in this country was quite refreshing – a nice contrast to the opulence and modernity that you often see here.  At the festival, we learned that Al Ain is actually a UNESCO cultural site.  In the Hili area – where we have been living the entire time – there are archaeological sites that show evidence of sedentary lifestyle since the Neolithic period!  So, contrary to my previous statement in the post “The Elusive Souq and Mysterious Emirati” (October 6^th, 2014), it seems that there ARE a number of location of historical significance in the UAE; you just have to look for them in the midst of the more “obvious” tourist attractions.  Discovering a country is a process.