IWG celebrates Kuwait National Holidays
The International Women Group (IWG) celebrated Kuwait’s 56th National Day and 26th Liberation Day yesterday at Crowne Plaza Hotel. “This year we decided to highlight that Kuwait belongs to all people of different religions,” said Narjis Al-Shatti, IWG member.
Shatti added “We decided to review the role of the Church in the history of Kuwait, since the first church was built during the Sheikh Mubarak Al-Kabeer era,” Shatti added, referring to Kuwait’s seventh ruler who ruled from 1896 to 1915. “And now we have managed to portray this picture of Kuwait to all countries through the eyes of ambassadors’ wives.”
Kuwait nowadays has around nine churches that serve Kuwait’s Christian community. “Kuwait’s first Christian Pastor Emmanuel Benjamin Ghareeb who runs the National Evangelical Church of Kuwait sponsored the event (yesterday),” Shatti added.
At the event, Huda Al-Kandari, heritage sites designer, made the traditional Kuwaiti bride corner where IWG members enjoyed wearing traditional Kuwaiti costumes. “The thing that every one notices is the golden jewelry which costs up to KD 6,000,” she said. “It is a traditional headwear called ‘Hamah’ made of gold. It is often worn with a necklace called ‘Al-Mrthesh’ which weighs around half a kilogram,” she explained.
“I incorporated elements from the traditional Kuwaiti wedding while designing the corner including a colorful traditional Kuwaiti wedding dress,” she added. “In addition, the corner includes drums and fresh ‘Mashmom’ which is a kind of plant that has strong and great smell and was used to decorate the bride’s hair.”
The event closed with a national song as the audience joined the performers to celebrate Kuwait’s National Day with dancing. IWG honored Ghareeb for his great work that he gave in service of Kuwait and Christians. IWG is a prestigious group of women that consists of wives of ambassadors, diplomats and other dignitaries from in Kuwait’s female community.