A few days ago I was at the souq and couldn't believe how busy it was, in the section where the nuts and sweets are sold it was absolutely packed with people shopping. I didn't think much of it at the time, I assumed everyone likes going shopping for sweets and nuts during this month.
I completely forgot that the next day was the 14th day of Ramadan, which in the Gulf has special significance. On that day Qataris and other Gulf Arabs celebrate a festival called Garangao.
On Garangao children dress up in traditional clothing and go door-to-door asking people for sweets, which they put in bags that they bring with them. Sounds familiar, right? Yep, it has some similarities to Halloween in the West. However there are some distinct differences: no one dresses up in scary costumes, there is no underlying ghosts/spirits/witches theme to the festival, and children will traditionally sing songs as they go to houses to collect the candy. The songs reference Allah, generosity etc.
I wish I had remembered that it was Garangao as I would've had my camera with me and gone out in the evening to take some pictures. Unfortunately I only went to the souq late that evening and realized it was Garangao when I saw numerous Qatari women sitting on benches with huge bags of nuts and candy, giving handfuls out to eager children.
I spoke to a Qatari friend of mine the next day and he fondly remembered Garangao. When I asked him what would happen if someone didn't give treats he laughed and replied that they might sing the songs really loud for a minute or so (so that the people inside could feel guilty for not having any candy) and then they would move on to the next house. No pranks.
Garangao appears to be a cultural event in the Gulf and is not an Islamic requirement. I believe many other Muslim countries do not celebrate it. My Qatari friend was sure that it was cultural. I also did a search on Halloween to see if somehow the two are related but could find no connection. Most Halloween traditions seem to originate in Britain and Ireland in the Middle Ages and given that there were no similar traditions in the lands between Britain and Arabia it's unlikely that the two holidays are somehow connected.
Unfortunately I don't have pictures to post but there was a nice news article about Garangao with some photos. Enjoy.
_
No comments:
Post a Comment