Katara’s World Cup events, dhow festival attract big crowds
Increasingly large numbers of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 fans, international visitors and residents continue to enjoy the amazing events and activities at Katara – the Cultural Village. Katara is witnessing daily an influx of thousands of World Cup fans and visitors from various countries from early morning until 1am to experience a wonderful atmosphere, exceptional evenings and unique nights full of thrill and excitement. In particular, the 12th edition of the Katara Traditional Dhow Festival, which continues until December 18, have proven to be highly popular among tourists and residents giving them glimpses of the marine heritage of the country and the region.
The flags of the 32 nations participating in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 are put on heritage dhows to sail past the Doha Corniche and Qatar’s world famous Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) on to Doha Port daily from Katara Beach. The competitions organised at the festival are a big draw, namely: Hawari rowing (Al-Tafres) and the Al-Shush Heritage competition. Further, the street art activities are very popular, especially among children. Katara has launched a number of activities for children. Students from Khawla Bint Al-Azwar Elementary School have presented exhibition boards of popular songs to introduce visitors to the Qatari folklore. They perform daily at Katara, Gate 17, from 3pm to 8pm, popular games for girls such as: Al-Qais, Al-Khisha Ya’awishah, Al-Laqfa, jumping the rope, Al-Shaqha, Anbar, Al-Rain. The songs performed by the students include: My mother is calling me, Ghazala, Taq Ya Matar, Haya Biya, Tawirah Rahat al-Bar, Rise, Shwaib. The Katara Library for Arabic Fiction organises many activities for children, including the distribution of the book (draw and colour from our folklore). The book contains 88 pages, including drawings expressing the Qatari folklore in black and white, and children must colour these drawings, which depict old Qatari architecture such as doors and windows, women’s and men’s clothing, in addition to utensils used for hospitality such as a coffee pot, in addition to drawings related to folk crafts.
The goal of this activity, according to Khaled al-Muhannadi, the director of the Katara Library for the Arabic Novel, is to link the emerging generations with the heritage of their ancestors, and on the other hand, to introduce the guests of the World Cup to the Qatari heritage. The giant puppets which dance to the World Cup songs at Ibn al-Rayb Cultural Street attract children, who crowd around to take pictures with them. There are photo spots, enabling the public to take souvenir photos with panels, on which ‘My Trip to Qatar’ and ‘My story with the 2022 World Cup’ are written.