Note: This post is very late; I wrote it back in September but never got around to posting it. Recently I found it again and, after a few edits, thought it was blog-worthy! I hope you like it!
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The village in which Talya and I live is extremely isolated, small, and traditional. While this can be bothersome when trying to get places, we both learned why this can also be an incredible advantage.
That afternoon, as our host mother and sisters were sleeping, our host father and brother were getting ready to go out, Talya was sitting upstairs in our room, and I was downstairs making myself a cup of coffee, I suddenly heard drums, bagpipes, and singing coming from outside. My first thought was that someone was playing their music from their car really, really loudly, but then I heard women cheering and clapping. It was only then that it hit me: there must actually be people singing and playing music out on our road! I tried to see what was happening from our front porch, but to no avail. Even hearing other people was incredibly surprising for me; my town is very quiet and empty most of the time. I went outside and looked out the gate, and, much to my surprise, saw a horde of at least fifty people walking up our street, dancing, singing, and playing music. Gone were the plain black abayas and shaylas which are usually the garment of choice of Omani women- almost all of the women were wearing vibrantly colored dresses with matching scarves. Dresses of saffron yellow, bright pink, rich green, ruby red, with sequins adorning the neckline and sleeves. Little girls of only six or seven wore the traditional outfit of pants with tunics, also brightly colored and embellished. Both adults and children had gold necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings, and everyone seemed to be in a fun mood. I ran back inside to tell Talya, who rushed downstairs and outside. Once we saw the people, we were conflicted; do we follow them, or watch from our gate? In the end, we decided to follow them, and I am so glad we did!
At the top of our village are bathhouses, along with places to sit. Usually they are almost empty, with the exception of a few people. However, more people than we have even seen in our entire town were there. Men in their twenties were washing and waxing their cars, or playing the drums and singing. Women stood around talking as their children played. The air was hazy from the smoke of burning bukhoir, a type of Omani incense made of frankincense. Talya and I stood to the side, a bit awkwardly, wondering what was happening (we thought it was a wedding!), until one of the men came up to us. He told us that this was a first birthday celebration of a little girl, and said, upon seeing Talya’s camera, said, “Pictures? Take pictures! No problem!” Talya and I were both in a bit of a state of shock- we could have never guessed that anything like this would ever happen here! We went to sit down, as to stick out a little less, (wishful thinking on our part!) when two women came up to us and gave us flatbread with helwa. Helwa is a famous and strong-tasting Omani sweet made of dried dates, honey, and spices, which has the consistency of custard. We stood around and attempted to speak with some of the women in our broken Arabic, until the entire group began to move back down the road. We were told to come along, and began talking to a young woman who spoke enough English for us to communicate. She told us that the gathering was made up of extended family and friends of the girl’s parents. We never managed to find out whether this was an ordinary birthday celebration or something a little more extravagant, but we were able to discover that many of the partygoers were from Salalah, a small, somewhat traditional city in the south of Oman. Though Talya and I have never been to Salalah, we have heard on multiple occasions that it has a vibrantly unique culture. The young woman who had been talking to us all along asserted this, saying: “All Arabs play drums, but only we play them like this.” The “we” she was referring to was people from Salalah. The song and dances seemed to have African influences, but I must admit I was more than a little surprised to see bagpipes! After walking down the road to the center of our town, we sat down on mats placed in a front yard. There, we drank water and ate helwa with bread, just taking in the experience in awe. As the men played drums and the women danced, Talya and I both thought to ourselves how incredible this afternoon was. We certainly wouldn’t have found a party like this back in America!
The afternoon was by far the most exciting one we have had so far, and was a prime example of Omani hospitality at its finest. Talya and I arrived back home with fingers sticky with helwa, a camera full of pictures, and memories of an experience we will never forget.
Caillean in Oman 