In their second year of organizing the Heritage Festival, the Women's Higher Committee for Social and Humanitarian Services in Makkah Region distinguished itself in exhibiting and portraying the heritage and traditions from different regions of the Kingdom. A thousand tickets were sold to Saudi and foreign women for the festival held on Sept. 28th at Laylatiy Ballroom. The aim was to raise money to build housing for the poor. The Women's Higher Committee organized the first heritage festival last year in response to Crown Prince Abdullah's call to eradicate poverty and provide housing for limited income families. Last year's success encouraged them to hold another one this year. "People participate in charity in different ways. We want to aid those in need and the housing project is a humanitarian work prompted by our Islamic teachings and it will benefit many people,"said Princess Sarah Al-Angari, president of the committee and wife of Makkah governor Prince Abdul Majeed.
Every corner of the ballroom was transformed into old houses and markets which displayed local crafts from each region in the Kingdom. "It took the committee four months to organize this festival," said Princess Sarah to Arab News. "I thought of a heritage festival as a way to teach the younger generation about our traditions so that they remain with us. Our customs and culture are beautiful and we should not stray from them; they are what makes us unique," she said. "At the same time, it reminds people who lived through some of those earlier days in our history of how precious and important that part of our culture is," she concluded.
Walking by each exhibit was an enchanting journey back in time. Aspects of each region - Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Central - whether a typical living room or a market or local handcrafts were presented authentically. "We met people from these regions and we did research on the history, the local dialect and terminologies and habits. As you can see from the booklet we are distributing, there is a summary from each region," the princess said. The booklet provides not only a brief history and description of the regions, but also some interesting details about local habits, the names of traditional garments, and traditional wedding customs and procedures. It also includes a description of traditional local dishes and desserts and recipes for some of them.
A fascinating sight at the festival were the committee staff dressed as shop keepers, attending to their business in a setting resembling the old bazaars and also as street vendors, selling their merchandise from house to house . Every care was taken to make the guests relive those former days. Even the waitresses were dressed as a typical male agha with a white thobe and orange turban, serving Zamzam water from a clay container, Arabic coffee, dates and a traditional snack of chickpeas and pickles mixed in a small bowl. Everyone was eager and excited at the festival; the organizers and most of the attendants, young and old, wore traditional outfits with unique and beautiful cotton or silk fabrics and rich embroidery. The guests even sat and played a game of kumkum, a traditional game in the western Hijaz region played with seashells. At another corner was a display of some of the simple games children used to play including hopscotch.
A show was presented of some of the traditional songs and dances from each region as well as a traditional wedding ceremony with a bride and groom dressed in traditional garments from each region. In line with the theme of the festival, the buffet was entirely of traditional meals, sweets and delicacies from every region prepared and served accordingly.
"The festival is a great success and we have raised a lot of money for the project," said Suad Abbas, the director of the committee. With the wonderful atmosphere of the heritage presentations, it's easy to forget the real purpose of the festival which is to raise money to build housing for the poor; Tickets were SR1000 each.
A documentary film on the process of building housing in Tufail village was presented to the guests and received a round of applause and encouraged further donations. The project focuses on remote villages where poverty, inadequate housing are common and where there is a shortage of water and electricity. The committee chose as its first village for launching this project, the village of Tufail located about 135km south of Jeddah with 120 families. The committee conducted a study of the project and delegated a national construction company - Saudi Binladin Group -- to build 106 housing units, 95 of them have been completed at a cost of over SR10 million. Besides the housing units, a school, a health center and a mosque will also be built and two water wells will be dug. A study is being conducted on the next housing units project in the village of Rabigh, outside Makkah, and it will be ready for initiation in two months.
Maha Akeel
In their second year of organizing the Heritage Festival, the Women's Higher Committee for Social and Humanitarian Services in Makkah Region distinguished itself in exhibiting and portraying the heritage and traditions from different regions of the Kingdom. A thousand tickets were sold to Saudi and foreign women for the festival held on Sept. 28th at Laylatiy Ballroom. The aim was to raise money to build housing for the poor. The Women's Higher Committee organized the first heritage festival last year in response to Crown Prince Abdullah's call to eradicate poverty and provide housing for limited income families. Last year's success encouraged them to hold another one this year. "People participate in charity in different ways. We want to aid those in need and the housing project is a humanitarian work prompted by our Islamic teachings and it will benefit many people,"said Princess Sarah Al-Angari, president of the committee and wife of Makkah governor Prince Abdul Majeed.
Every corner of the ballroom was transformed into old houses and markets which displayed local crafts from each region in the Kingdom. "It took the committee four months to organize this festival," said Princess Sarah to Arab News. "I thought of a heritage festival as a way to teach the younger generation about our traditions so that they remain with us. Our customs and culture are beautiful and we should not stray from them; they are what makes us unique," she said. "At the same time, it reminds people who lived through some of those earlier days in our history of how precious and important that part of our culture is," she concluded.
Walking by each exhibit was an enchanting journey back in time. Aspects of each region - Western, Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Central - whether a typical living room or a market or local handcrafts were presented authentically. "We met people from these regions and we did research on the history, the local dialect and terminologies and habits. As you can see from the booklet we are distributing, there is a summary from each region," the princess said. The booklet provides not only a brief history and description of the regions, but also some interesting details about local habits, the names of traditional garments, and traditional wedding customs and procedures. It also includes a description of traditional local dishes and desserts and recipes for some of them.
A fascinating sight at the festival were the committee staff dressed as shop keepers, attending to their business in a setting resembling the old bazaars and also as street vendors, selling their merchandise from house to house . Every care was taken to make the guests relive those former days. Even the waitresses were dressed as a typical male agha with a white thobe and orange turban, serving Zamzam water from a clay container, Arabic coffee, dates and a traditional snack of chickpeas and pickles mixed in a small bowl. Everyone was eager and excited at the festival; the organizers and most of the attendants, young and old, wore traditional outfits with unique and beautiful cotton or silk fabrics and rich embroidery. The guests even sat and played a game of kumkum, a traditional game in the western Hijaz region played with seashells. At another corner was a display of some of the simple games children used to play including hopscotch.
A show was presented of some of the traditional songs and dances from each region as well as a traditional wedding ceremony with a bride and groom dressed in traditional garments from each region. In line with the theme of the festival, the buffet was entirely of traditional meals, sweets and delicacies from every region prepared and served accordingly.
"The festival is a great success and we have raised a lot of money for the project," said Suad Abbas, the director of the committee. With the wonderful atmosphere of the heritage presentations, it's easy to forget the real purpose of the festival which is to raise money to build housing for the poor; Tickets were SR1000 each.
A documentary film on the process of building housing in Tufail village was presented to the guests and received a round of applause and encouraged further donations. The project focuses on remote villages where poverty, inadequate housing are common and where there is a shortage of water and electricity. The committee chose as its first village for launching this project, the village of Tufail located about 135km south of Jeddah with 120 families. The committee conducted a study of the project and delegated a national construction company - Saudi Binladin Group -- to build 106 housing units, 95 of them have been completed at a cost of over SR10 million. Besides the housing units, a school, a health center and a mosque will also be built and two water wells will be dug. A study is being conducted on the next housing units project in the village of Rabigh, outside Makkah, and it will be ready for initiation in two months.
