Dubai Culture enhances the public’s knowledge of Emirati customs and traditions

Dubai Culture and Arts Authority is organising a virtual, specialised seminar under the title ‘Emirati Customs and Traditions,’ in cooperation with Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Cultural Communication and presented by Meera Al Falasi. The aim is to spread awareness and knowledge among the various members of the UAE community, with their different nationalities, about Emirati culture and heritage while also preserving them and keeping the new generation in touch with their values and inspiring them to be proud of it. The Authority is calling on the public to participate in this seminar to enhance their knowledge about Emirati heritage and what it embodies in human values.

The seminar will be broadcast on Zoom in English at the centre’s headquarters, located in one of the heritage houses in the historical Al Fahidi district Wednesday, on 2 September at 11 a.m. for about 30 – 45 minutes. Among the themes being covered, the seminar will narrate the story of the various Emirati environments — Bedouin, urban, and mountainous — and shed light on the models of local homes in the historical neighbourhoods and their stages, including the House of Poetry, the Arish, and the House of Stone, and what they reflect in tolerant Islamic principles of compassion, as well as the coins, barajeel, and old doors.

The seminar will also take the audience on a journey to learn about a multitude of traditional Emirati crafts, such as Al-Tili, Al-Sadu, and Al-Khous, all of which emphasise a creative relationship between ancestral craftsmen and local natural resources and reflect their tastes and skills with the aim to enhance the continuity of this popular heritage and protect it from extinction. The seminar will also shed light on the customs and traditions of the people of the Emirates who are known for their generosity and hospitality.

Dubai Culture, as a curator of arts, culture, and heritage in the emirate is keen to spread awareness of the importance of the local tangible and intangible heritage, its sustainability, and its transmission to new generations by organising specialised events and seminars, providing platforms that shed light on Emirati social heritage and contribute to strengthening the national identity, in cooperation and integration with its specialised partners.

More than 2000 tour guides and major tourism companies in the UAE will be invited to attend the seminar.