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by Raynald C Rivera
Centuries after it first set sail into the sea, the dhow has changed its face transforming from a vital means of trade to a source of entertainment. But its legacy will live on for generations to come, thanks to the efforts of the government to remind the new generation of this important aspect of their culture through the Traditional Dhow Festival, which is in its second year.
For over 13 centuries, dhows were used as the main trading vessels sailing to India and East Africa and were commonly used by fishermen and pearl divers.
“Earlier, dhows were made mainly for sea trade. Arabs came to India to buy spices among other things. Now the concept of dhow has completely changed, from cargo its purpose has turned into pleasure and entertainment. So you see the dhows are now built with rooms and some make it a restaurant,” explained Hamed Hashim of M/s Haji P I Ahamed Koya (HPIAK), exporters, importers and boat builders based in India.
HPIAK is the only company representing India participating in the festival, which features 105 well-preserved boats from all over GCC.
Hamed is the fourth generation owner of the 120-year-old company which recently built a sambuk type of dhow for Qatar’s ruling family, said to be the biggest sambuk in the region.
The company is a testament to how Gulf countries especially Qatar has been very keen on preserving this significant aspect of their culture which played an indispensable role in their ancestors’ livelihood during the pre-oil era.
“We have been dealing with all GCC countries for the last 100 years but Qatar is where we are getting full support and we are getting lots of orders from here both from the senior officials and businessmen,” said Hamed, adding the orders are mostly sambuk, the most popular in Qatar and the biggest type of dhow.
“They order mostly sanbuk, because this is the type of dhow adopted here. Each country has its own unique type of dhow they use such as the baggarah in Iran or boum in Oman,” he added.
Not only Qatar but other GCC countries have launched their own initiatives to preserve their maritime culture.
Kuwait has built the Kuwait Maritime Museum exclusively for showcasing marine artifacts and the recently opened Bait Al Othman Museum which has a dedicated section for maritime heritage, some of the artifacts of which can be viewed by visitors at the Kuwaiti stall at the Festival.
“We have brought some very important artifacts from the museum to show visitors here especially the younger generation about our forefathers,” said Anwer M Al Refai, Team Leader, Kuwaiti Heritage Team.
The oldest in the dozens in the collection is a map made in 1737 “which tells about the routes our forefathers took going to Africa through the sea in the past.”
“We also have here other interesting artifacts like the tools they used to help them to reach their destinations without navigator even at night and the types of boats they utilised for specific purposes such as in bringing drinking water from Iraq,” explained Al-Refai.
Also unique in the collection is a small boat which dates back more than 250 years and was used for fishing which has a compartment where they put the fish in order that they arrive to the shore alive.
Unlike in other countries where they used boats chiefly for fishing and pearl diving in the past, Kuwaitis were capable of trading with India and Africa because they had bigger boats, he noted.
The festival, he said is a laudable initiative by the Qatari government “and we hope many countries initiate events like this to show our children and visitors our heritage.”
The Sultanate of Oman, on the other hand, has published books and created documentaries on their ancestors’ relation with the sea which are shown at the Festival.
“We brought books and documentaries talking about Omanis’ relation to the sea, our rich civilization and our contact with other civilizations through the sea,” said Abdullah Muhammad Al Harthy, a representative of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture of the Sultanate of Oman.
In addition, Oman has brought nine traditional ships and a traditional band to play at the festival.
“It is very important to show the new generation about the culture and history of the region, how people lived before, how they built the cities. I think it’s something that inspires them,” said Al Harthy.
The Omani government has been very serious in this regard sparing no effort to make sure they preserve their heritage, he said.
“We have a big project to preserve our heritage and an important par of this is restoration of more than 600 forts and castles in Oman. After the restoration efforts, the government had entrusted the Ministry of Tourism to promote them.”
In addition they also conduct three cultural days in other countries in Asia Africa and Europe to show Oman’s culture, history, handicraft, music and folklores.
“I think it is crucial for the young generation and the entire humanity to know about their past, about how his forefathers lived and how they had contact with other civilizations.”
Showcasing over 100 dhows, from Bahrain, Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Oman; the Festival includes various traditional activities such as performances by renowned regional bands, dhow cruises, fireworks, live dhow building, light show, pearl diving competition, children’s workshops, and museum displays from galleries from across the Gulf.
The pearl diving competition will begin today at 4pm where 12 teams will embark on a three-day journey to collect as many pearls as possible using traditional methods and tools for diving.
The exhibition is open to the public from 9am to 12noon and from 3pm 10pm today and Saturday. Tomorrow it will open from 3pm to 11pm.
The Peninsula
