In hopes of enriching people’s understanding of other cultures, the Women Welfare Society held a three-day folklore bridal festival under the sponsorship of Princess Alanoud bint Abdullah ibn Muhammad at Jeddah Hilton from Nov. 22.
Consulates of Arab and Islamic countries presented their traditional wedding themes, customs and ceremonies during the event.
“This is a great idea. I hope that it’s not a one-time event and that it continues to happen at least once every year. It really helps in promoting our culture as well as other cultures,” said Liz Abdullah, wife of the Indonesian consul general.
The Sundanese bride from West Java, Indonesia performed the rituals of their wedding ceremony on the third and final day of the festival.
The bride and her groom were wearing the same red flashy wedding costumes embroidered with bright golden decorations.
The first day of the event showed the traditional Iranian, Yemeni and Algerian bridal ceremonies. The second day was dedicated to Pakistani and Palestinian brides, in addition to a wedding from Bani Saad area in Taif.
Alongside the theme of the festival, and to encourage families the group sponsors, supports and trains, a large collection of handmade crafts was displayed at the exhibition area.
“The society’s tailoring workshop has two main functions. One is to meet people’s demands and the other is to teach sewing and embroidering to the families the society sponsors,” said Maha Malik Abu-Ghalib, chairman of the social committee, training and development programs at the society.
She said that the society is keen not only on supporting people financially, but also developing their skills and encouraging them to earn their own living by becoming active members in their communities.
“The society is well-known for its unique efforts. We organized the event so that people could get exposed to different cultures without having to travel. We combined that with an exhibition to display and sell crafts and artwork to the guests,” said Al-Ghalib.
At one of the exhibition booths, members of the Women’s Cultural Forum were promoting their campaign “Our Weddings Are to Delight Not Exhaust Us.” The objective of the campaign was to change negative Saudi wedding habits by holding workshops and bringing women to brainstorm ideas on how to raise awareness about wedding problems.
“Having an extremely late wedding in Saudi is an annoying habit that we want to break. We are educating women and encouraging them to have early weddings. When’s a best time other than a bridal festival to spread the word on our mission?” said Shahinaz Sabban, member of the Women’s Cultural Forum and one of the campaign organizers.