Thousands flock to Sheikh Zayed Festival
ABU DHABI: The Kingdom of Morocco’s pavilion at Sheikh Zayed Festival sees thousands of visitors a day to its many shops, exhibits and folkloric performances. Visitors are treated to a variety of folk dishes and traditional cuisines, handicrats and food stuffs, giving them a look into the nation’s ancient customs, traditions and culture.
Visitors to the pavilion will quickly note its unique design, with its gates modeled ater the famous Gates of Fez, its shopfronts modeled ater a traditional Moroccan market, a large square decorated with fountains, mosaics and traditional siting area. A designated stage also features several performances throughout the day.
A wide selection of traditional women’s clothing and accessories, including the catan, djellaba, Moroccan, silver belts, sharbeel and balgha (traditional slippers), all reflect a regional specificity within Morocco, with a multitude of designs for many different occasions.
The pavilion’s vendors are keen to contextualise their wares within wider Moroccan culture and tradition, giving each of their customers a detailed background of their products’ ancient and modern production methods.
Moroccan fashion is wildly popular with the pavilion’s visitors, whether they come for a one-piece katan, the takchita dress, Moroccan kandora, or embroidered djellaba (a dress worn both inside and outside the house). The djellaba specifically has been modernized and adapted for many seasons and occasions, including Ramadan.
The Moroccan pavilion is also home to many food stalls, showcasing their best traditional dishes, sweets, baked goods and teas. Visitors can enjoy meat tagine with stewed prunes, chicken tagine with olives, rfissa and pastilla, harira soup, couscous and a variety of pies. These all pair well some authentic Moroccan tea.
Visitors are treated to all this and more amidst modern Andalusian-inspired music and folkloric performances, courtesy of the Andalusian Tarab and the Gnawa troupes throughout the day. This all reflects the kingdom’s endlessly diverse musical heritage.