The Janadriya Festival is an important annual cultural event that can serve to maintain our national identity and infuse it with a healthy dose of cultural pride in this era of globalization.
Citizens contributed enthusiastically to the festival this year, helping to express this beautiful country’s cultural history in an open and exciting way. Janadriya celebrates our cultural heritage and preserves it from being forgotten.
Janadriya aims for a unique significance. A large number of people work hard and participate to present a variety of pictures. I’ll share a few points that Janadriya emphasized this year.
A main feature of the festival has been the full-scale “villages” representing typical characteristics found in different parts of the Kingdom, from the culinary to the architectural.
These model villages ought to be maintained throughout the year as a kind of educational theme park for children and adults alike. This would be an excellent platform to learn about the diverse aspects of our Kingdom. These model villages could also be built in different cities of the Kingdom.
Also, why not have an operetta of youth similar to the one that opened at this year’s Janadriya Festival? This performance would help establish a sense of unity among the youth of our nation.
One of the issues I had with the festival is that women were allowed to attend only for three days. The rest of the days were left for the men. Why the discrimination? Furthermore, a day must be specified for families to attend. This wouldn’t be so strange, since there are shopping malls that have families-only days. And there are weekly female markets in regions such as Asir where for hundreds of years women have been allowed to sell merchandise and both men and women bought from these female vendors. Why not incorporate a similar model into the Janadriya Festival?
Choosing the dates for the Janadriya should be reconsidered. It happens during school time, which eliminates chances for people living in far-off areas to attend. I suggest that it should be held somewhere in the middle of summer vacation or other breaks to encourage attendance.
I wish there would also be full media coverage, not just the daily one-hour TV report that doesn’t show all of the activities.
In spite of these issues, the Janadriya Festival is a success. It attracts many thinkers and intellectuals from Arab and Islamic countries. It is a great way for us to enlighten people and show more of our great culture and history.
