A Date With Dates
They're a staple of the Saudi diet, and most here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are grown in Al Hasa, the largest oasis in the world. Al Hasa boasts over 3 MILLION date palm trees, according to residents there. (Wikipedia says there are 2 million. Either way, that's a whole lot of palm trees!)
Al Hasa (also called Al Ahsa, depending on who is doing the translating) puts on a date festival every year. The flyer sent to us was completely in Arabic, which should have been a hint of things to come.
We had not explored much of the country around us, outside of the city we live in, so we decided this would be a fun small adventure.
On the trip from Khobar to Al Hasa, one sees many camels and their male herders perched atop the camels. If you look very carefully at the camel on the left, you'll see a baby camel nursing. It has a red blanket on it. The temperatures in February are rather chilly for Saudi. The temperatures average from the mid-50's (Fahrenheit) to the low-70's. Quite pleasant, but a little cool for a young camel.
The Date Festival
The festival was held in a large hall, surrounded by a patio area where several food trucks served their goods.
The first exhibit was on loan from the Abdul Razzak Al Arab Museum, and showed antique tools and items used in growing, harvesting and processing dates. This is a wheel that would have a rope wrapped around it and attached to a bucket, and was used to raise and lower the bucket full of dates.
On the right, a saddle, used on camels or donkeys, when transporting dates
Sandals
I couldn't find an explanation of these, but from the prominence of these and others in the exhibits, I assume they were worn at some point by the date farmers.
A Mahabash, made from the trunk of the date palm. The explanation translation was hard to understand, but it seems they catch dates in this, as well as mash them.
Baskets used to carry dates. The English translation again was hard to understand and had Tex and me scratching our heads. There was a mention of something that sounded inappropriate to mention in public, but knowing the little we do of Saudi culture, we decided that Google translate got it really wrong this time around.
The English translation of the explanation of these items wasn't completely clear either, but it seems that these odd-shaped baskets were used to keep the dates wet and fresh.
Inside the main hall of the conference center were several exhibitors like this one, selling dates in many different forms.
A few of the date offerings.
Many recipes here use date sugar. A natural substitute, and quite tasty too!
Date syrup
The date treats we brought home. At the top is an assortment of date candies from the most well-known date shop. My favorite was the date ball rolled in chocolate powder and chopped pistachios. The round tin is a paste, eaten by itself as a dessert. Chopped pistachios are on top.
The box on the bottom was given to us by the city agency hosting the event. Because we were the only Westerners in attendance, we were taken to the VIP room and given information about Al Hasa and the date industry. We also were given a guided tour of the festival, and presented with this box full of date treats.
(We took Flat Stanley, the crayon-colored drawing in the middle of all the dates, with us to the festival. He came with us from the US and was sent from a 2nd grade student at Somerville Elementary in Somerville, Texas, where our daughter teaches 2nd grade.)
Another large room in the conference center housed the Handicraft section of the festival. This man is weaving floor mats. Completed ones can be seen rolled up in the back.
This man is constructing decorative window and door frames, which are a very popular thing in Saudi. May homes here use them for their doors or for decorative purposes.
A drum maker
This artist makes cages and furniture from small pieces of wood. In this picture, he was showing a young boy the whistles he also makes.
The very big sandals one artist made. You can also see the normal sized ones sitting by the large one on the floor.
This is Mohammad Al-Qahtani, an artist and poet. He was a delightful man who we saw on our way into the festival. His warmth made us feel very welcome there. We bought his book, and I would tell you the name of it if I could read Arabic better. :) There is one poem in English called "Come Back Soon." His art genre is wood burning, and as you can see, his work was quite nice.
Outside in the courtyards were food trucks and vendors selling baskets and other items. It was a family event and there were lots of children playing games, such as this one. Apparently, kids play hopscotch all over the world. This one has Arabic numbers 1 to 8 on it.
On our way out, we saw this food truck which was about to open. We smiled at the word TEXAS. Everyone in Saudi seems to love Texas, and they're always delighted to meet someone from there. It was a nice reminder of home while being so very far away from it.
We had a fun day in Al Hasa, and definitely learned a lot about dates and the area. It was also interesting being the only Westerners at the festival. I would have imagined that would be very unpleasant, or at least awkward, but instead we were treated with graciousness and warmth. What fond memories we'll have of this area and the people that live here.
Until next time, HAPPY TRAILS from Tex and me.
