Muscat Festival 2014--Part 1

I am really behind in my postings, but as the saying goes, better late than never! I visited the Muscat Festival this year with good friends Monika and Ashwin. Don was working--that's what he's doing these days trying to get the building completed. He's almost there--I'll try to have a post on that as soon as it's almost done!

Anyway, back to Muscat Festival: it's a time for the citizens of Oman to display their traditional crafts, culture, and lifestyle in a park- or fair-like setting. When we first entered the park, several Omani men were making halawah. Halawah is made with sugar, dates, and oil. Dates are plentiful in Oman, as is evident by all the palm trees you have seen in my previous pictures of the country.

This is the serving station for the halawah. The man with the stick under the canopy is stirring a big vat of it.

This is the fire they are using to heat the halawah mixture.

And yes, that is a large stick they are stirring with. Like I said, this festival is a display of cultural heritage--in other words, the "old ways." If you look at the can sitting atop the chimney to the left, you will see the word "ghee" on the label. Ghee is clarified butter that is sold and used in large quantities for cooking over here. Ghee is the Indian term for it.

Just adjacent to the halawah-making booth is a long series of booths of food for sale by Omani women. Many of the women are wearing colorful shaylas and abiyahs. These are typically the bedouin and/or country women. Before the custom of wearing all black came into vogue, the Omani women dressed very colorfully, and many still do today. They are also making food to sell here at the festival--a lot of it right in the booth.

Here is the menu of offerings with prices. #3 and #7 aren't sweat, they mean sweet. Spelling doesn't count for
much here when there is no commonality in alphabet letters! Bz stands for baiza, a unit of
Omani money that equals about 26 cents in US money.

This is going to be one of the egg dishes.

Monika and Ashwin sampling some of the Omani food. The bread roll in the dish is a
sweet bread and tastes somewhat like a donut hole.

Next, we toured through some of the craft areas.

An Omani woman making and selling some of the crafts she has made. See the close-up below.

The Omani version of socks, woven with fibers made from goat hair, I'm sure!

Since palm leaves are in abundant supply here, they dry them and weave them for all sorts of things.

These baskets are made from them as well. They are quite adept at splitting the fronds into thinner strips and weaving them tightly to make baskets. See the little boys in the background blowing on some kind of pipe?

There were displays of Omani bedouin life, from camels used for transportation, donkeys used for water power, boat-building, net-making for fishing, homes made from natural materials, and even games played for leisure time.

Enjoying conversation and tea behind a protective fence made from dead tree and plant material.

The area inside the tent would be similar to a majilis room, a room where guests are to be greeted and fed, with relaxation and comfort in mind. The tent is an example of authentic tents used for living in the desert, made of goat hair.

A fine Omani dhow, the boats they have used for centuries to cross the Omani Gulf and fish.

A cow is being used to draw water from a well.

These are rugs that are commonly made and sold still today in Oman.

In the Kansas plains where I grew up, we would call this dead vegetation "tumble weeds." Here, Omanis use the same type of dead vegetation to build temporary structures in the desert. 

Using trees to make a pulley system for a water well.

Another tent in typical Omani style with musicians playing and singing.

This camel is "hobbled." It prevents him from running away. The hobble is worn on the head of Arab men to hold the long scarves on their head. It was handy when traveling--it could just be pulled of their head and used to hobble their camel!

Again, enjoying coffee or tea in front of a fire. The men are leaning against a camel saddle.

These men are playing a game in the sand. They dug little pocket holes in rows and columns and tossed the rocks into the pockets. I watched them for awhile, but never figured out the point of the game.

Shoes on the left, sandals, better known as flip flops today, on the right. I think I like ours today better! They also built miniature models of shelters for the display.

An old fishing boat

More weaving

Making nets for fishing

I took so many pictures of interesting things, I'm just going to stop here and put the rest in another blog--so hopefully I won't put everybody to sleep reading an incredibly long blog!