It started in Dibba Al-Hisn.. and continues until next Saturday
“Al-Maleh Festival” sings of marine folklore
The festival highlights one of the most important traditional food industries and seeks to introduce it to generations.
Photography: Ashok Verma
Celebrating the Emirati maritime heritage;
Yesterday morning, next to Dibba Al-Hisn port, and coinciding with the start of the "Al-Malih" season, the third session of the "Al-Maleh Festival", which sheds light on one of the most important traditional food industries that invested fish wealth to secure food needs, and transformed it into a food stock suitable for different seasons and seasons.
The festival, which is organized by the municipality of Dibba Al-Hisn and the Dibba Al-Hisn Association for Fishermen, under the supervision of the Municipal Council, includes a series of events and pavilions that celebrate the marine character and embody it in various forms, most notably traditional marine items and various products, in addition to a marine museum and a corner for marine crafts.
This festival is a traditional maritime wedding that sings songs and sings of marine folklore.
Specialized suites The "Al-Maleh Festival" includes various pavilions, including shops selling "maleh" of all kinds: "domes", "kanad", "khabat" and "sad", and other traditional industries related to fisheries, and a corner for productive families that includes various industries, including spices, in addition to To a corner for craftswomen focusing on marine crafts, including the lech and garaqer industries, as well as a corner entitled the Maritime Museum that includes tools dating back to the beginning of the last century that were used in the sea, and a special corner for fishing tools, and a corner for modern boat engines, as well as a special corner for government departments, in addition to To a corner for those interested in heritage. international Day The third session of the “Al-Maleh Festival” comes in conjunction with the World Heritage Day, which falls on April 18 each year, as set by the World Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), with the aim of highlighting aspects of the cultural heritage that focuses on features from the lives of ancestors in the past. As is the case for the food industries, folk cooking, arts and traditional crafts. |
What is new in the third session of the “Al-Malih Festival” is embodied in the reduction of its prices, as the prices of “Al-Malih” throughout the days of the festival, which will continue until the day after tomorrow, will range between 130 and 230 dirhams, in addition to holding some seminars that will focus on introducing the various marine arts, and the definition as well. With salt as a popular meal in the Dibba Al-Hisn region, according to the Director of Dibba Al-Hisn Municipality, Talib Abdullah bin Safar.
The launching ceremony of the festival, which was inaugurated by the head of the Municipal Council in Dibba Al-Hisn, Eng. Ali Ahmed bin Yarouf Al-Naqbi, and a number of officials and the people of the region, was marked by celebrating the “Al-Maleh” industry through a theatrical performance for children depicting various features about the industry, written, performed and directed by Muhammad Rushoud, Teachers' Association participation.
industry
For his part, the festival participant, citizen Ahmed, who has owned a private shop selling fresh, salted and dried fish for about 15 years, said: “Maleh is made from different fish, including kingfish, domes, and oysters of small size. The head and tail of the fish are cut and then cut lengthwise. It is cut into two halves, and cut from the inside with longitudinal lines, and if the fish is large, it is cut into pieces, while the small ones remain as they are.
The fish is cleaned by extracting its guts, and then adding salt in quantities that only those who are skilled in preparing the salt can understand.
"The salted (salty) fish is then kept in special packages and placed in the sun for three months in the summer, while in winter it is used four to five months after placing the packages in the outdoors," Ahmed added.
On her part, Sultana Ali Ahmed, who is part of a group of women producers at the Family Development Center in Dibba Al-Hisn, “Women of the Jeeran Council,” said: “Preparing the salty meal is easy and devoid of complications, as salty pieces are taken out of the special package, and salt is washed twice. Then it is boiled and cut into small pieces, and re-washed until the desired amount of salt is reached, and served with white rice, onions and lemons.
And about her participation in the festival;
Sultana added, “My participation, along with my colleagues in the (women’s council of neighbors), comes in a desire to introduce salt as a traditional food industry in preparing a wide range of traditional items that represent one of the most prominent aspects of the cultural heritage that is passed down from generation to generation, and I sought to preserve and protect it and work to benefit from it.” Until the present time.”
While Amna Ahmed Al-Abd, from the Family Development Center in Dibba Al-Hisn, said, “I am very happy to be participating with my colleagues to achieve the festival’s goal of introducing one of the most important traditional food industries that invested fish wealth to secure food needs, and transforming it into a food stock suitable for different seasons and seasons, similar to traditional food industries.” Others depended on this stock.”
Regarding the productive families that participate in the “Ladies of Jeeran Council,” the participant (Um Obaid) said, “Today we participate in the Al-Maleh Festival with traditional family products that we prepare ourselves inside the house, most notably (Alhena), ghee known as (fat), henna and (bezar). It is a diversified mixture of spices used in preparing a wide range of traditional dishes.
Generation stock
Various methods of preserving fish products have been inherited by Emirati generations, most notably “maleh” which depends on the method of preservation by salting, and “shenna” which depends on the method of preservation by drying.
It is noteworthy that the people of the ancient Emirates did not only rely on fish wealth to secure their daily food needs, but they turned it into a food stock suitable for different seasons and seasons, even those where its varieties are rare, by harnessing the available capabilities to devise a variety of methods of preservation based on the methods of salting and drying. .
The festival includes a wide range of pavilions and events that celebrate the marine character and embody it in various forms, the most prominent of which are traditional marine items and a variety of products, daily practical workshops related to the “maleh” industry, cooking competitions in which artists and hotels will participate, seminars on “Al-Maleh Heritage and Authenticity” and the “Your Health” symposium We are interested in the salt industry,” and a cultural symposium and another on “Navy Arts, Art and Song.”
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