Zayed Heritage Festival lines up over 1,500 cultural activities
‘World in UAE’ section features iconic replicas of landmarks from the UAE and other countries
Celebrating the best of Emirati culture and tradition, the annual Shaikh Zayed Heritage Festival opened in Abu Dhabi on Friday with this year’s edition promising to be even bigger than previous years.
The festival will run till January 26 featuring several daily activities and performances — in total the festival will have more than 1,500 cultural and traditional events.
This year’s edition also sees the addition of the ‘World in UAE’ section which will feature iconic replicas of landmarks from the UAE and other countries.
With more than 1.5 million visitors attending last year’s festival, organisers are expecting similar if not even more numbers this year thanks to the festival’s growing popularity. The festival’s reach extends to visitors from neighbouring countries including Saudi Arabia and Oman. “The Shaikh Zayed Heritage Festival is an excellent event for people who want to learn and experience Emirati culture.
“There are many different areas to visit showcasing our traditions and what they mean ■ to us,” said Mahmoud Al Ali, an Emirati father who was visiting with his wife and three young children.
“I bring my children every year and we come during the weekends. The children have a lot of fun when they visit, and ■ ■ ■ ■
What:
Shaikh Zayed Heritage Festival
Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi 4-10pm daily till January 26
Free
Where: When: Admission:
at the same time they’re also gaining a good appreciation of our culture. It’s important to keep our traditions alive, especially with our young ones,” he added.
Nicholas Caparra, an Argentine tourist visiting the festival with his wife and daughter for the first time, said they wanted to learn about Emirati culture — and more specifically to see some camels.
“We want to see what the local culture is like, to taste their foods, and to understand their customs and traditions. We’re also very keen to see some camels! We’re visiting the UAE from Argentina and we heard about this event and so we decided to visit to get the true local experience,” he added.
Like previous years the festival has different sections each with their own themes, these include the UAE District, Memories of a Nation Exhibition, World Heritage, Traditional Customs Exhibition and Funfair City among many others.
Daily events such as horse and camel shows, folk art performances, world heritage parade and the UAE fountain and laser show make the festival a big draw for families.