Arab Cultural Night

I promised I would tell you about the Arab cultural night we organized at the youth camp in Ireland, so here it is ;)

A couple of weeks before the camp, we – the group of six participants from Jordan – got together to decide on what we needed to prepare, present, and take with us. We had to think of some kind of traditional food that would be enough for over 60 people, and while we would’ve liked to make mansaf, it wasn’t exactly the most feasible option… so after lots of pondering and remembering all kinds of yummy food, I volunteered (on behalf of my dear mom) to make “ka3k b 3ajweh” and “ma2rootah”, and we decided to buy ba2laweh. Apart from that, we set out on a mission to prepare CDs of traditional and contemporary Jordanian and Arabic music… and the big idea we came up with was to put it all together in a presentation of a traditional wedding! We figured it would be the best way to present the food, Arabic coffee, traditional songs, dabkeh… everything! Personally I think our weddings have a lot of wonderful cultural heritage, I love the evenings before and I love the songs the older women sing and I love “tal3et el 3aroos” when the groom’s family come to take the bride from her parents’ house…

I knew I love it, but I also knew there was no way I could personally pull it off because I didn’t know any of the songs by heart!!! That’s when my cousin told me that there’s this old lady in Madaba who published a book that brings together all the traditional songs associated with our occasions.

Isn’t she amazing?? I mean, there’s so much history and culture that’s at a risk of being lost because the younger generation is not picking it up… so what better way than trying to document all the heritage that has been passed on generation after generation!

You should’ve seen it at Corrymeela… it wasn’t all superbly organized, but it came out spontaneous and everyone enjoyed it a lot. We did it together with the group from Palestine and the Arab Israelis, they had also brought Henna and a CD of traditional wedding songs (kunt a3zab dayer majnoon ;p ) It was great when Denise did the “Mhaha”; the rhymed sentences offered by the mother of the bride or the groom (each saying something different) followed by the lululating – which everyone joined in creating a very funny noise :D we served traditional coffee… I had brought the cardamom and thought it would be ok to make it with Nescafe, but Akram (who has been working with Public Achievement as an international intern for a year) gave me that shame-on-you look and prepared it himself with the original Arabic ground coffee beans, stirring patiently by the stove. We also did a round of baqlaweh and mom’s ka3k b 3ajweh, and then we had a table set up with traditional bread (taboon), with sesame cookies and olive oil and za3tar (thyme).


We taught everyone a few dabkeh steps – thanks to Muntasser from Palestine who is in a dabkeh group, and then after the whole thing people got their names written with Henna in Arabic (we told them it would last two weeks but it washed off the next day, bummer!!)



One of the things that I had always been on my mind and that Roba and I discussed was brought up during that evening; people would come up to me, admire the dress, then ask me: “so where do you wear this back home?” and it upset me so much to think that the answer is actually “Nowhere!” I mean, we have such a beautiful thing here, we have beautiful art that can make wonderful material for everyday fashion, yet we just go to Mango and Zara and buy those plain stuff that look like everyone else! I know there are some local fashion designers who are creating some wonderful evening dresses with this traditional art yet with a modern touch; like the dresses Queen Nour wears on most big occasions, and I think this is an absolutely fantastic step, but what I also have in mind is things that can be worn everyday… look at the Japanese prints that became so popular at some point, look at all the Indian art that has found its way into today’s ready-to-wear fashion!!

Well, one last point… one person asked me how close this was to our modern day weddings, and I was glad to say that most of these elements were still very strongly present, even as people introduce more of the western style in receptions...he then said “I have never been around a more lively group of people before, you have such an amazingly rich culture it makes me feel ours is so boring!” and then I look at myself and some of my friends who don’t really know the songs and who don’t always appreciate the traditions and wonder; for how long will this beautiful rich heritage endure and stand in the face of cultural erosion?!