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Abu Dhabi: Organized by the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (TCAA), the 10-day Maritime Heritage Festival 2023 is now open to visitors following its opening on 17 February. Community events focus on bringing visitors back to their roots in Emirati coastal life and learning about the country’s history.
The festival at Abu Dhabi Corniche will end on 26 February. Hundreds of visitors of various nationalities are expected to attend the festival every day, including tourists and residents.
The festival includes exciting educational and fun experiences that include pearl diving exhibits, ancient marine life, meetings with marine experts, and hearing inspiring stories passed down from generation to generation in heritage keeper areas, among the usual festival highlights. Daily activities range from interactive games and workshops to markets and delicious sweets.
Visitors can learn how the city’s people live in harmony with the sea, build a sustainable and beautiful lifestyle, and develop skills such as fishing, trading and pearl diving that are passed down from generation to generation.
Malallah Mohammed Ibrahim Alhammadi, one of the oldest participants of the festival, was invited by the TCAA to demonstrate the importance of paddles. A well-crafted oar is a must for a (mahmal)—a wooden boat. Mr Mallah explained that at the time they did not have an engine or a carbon fiber body boat. They used a wood that is very light and floats easily. He added that while the wood used to build a traditional boat is important, the way you tie the knots on the sides and oars is even more important because it can cost sailors their lives.
Ahmed Mohammed Alhammadi was another participant, an expert in making fish cages or in other words “sea prisons” (qarqoor).
Ahmed explained that when he was a teenager, they didn’t have the tools and development that we have today, so he made this cage out of a type of wood that would sink into the seabed, with a one-way door, Can keep fish trapped in it.
He added that the cage was one of the most important tools found in almost all Emirati houses located by the sea at the time, as it was a survival tool.
Ahmed also has different cages for different species of fish, such as barracuda or gray mullet. He said the latter had a different cage design and a different trapdoor. That’s because some fish are smarter than others, and you can’t trick them in the same way, Ahmed explained.
In a statement to Gulf News, social media activist Saif Al Qubaisi expressed his joy at visiting the Maritime Heritage Festival exhibition and expressed his great admiration for the content and exhibits he saw dating back to the oil era in UAE society . “Anyone who wants to understand some aspect of the UAE’s heritage and history, especially the lives of the sea peoples of the past, must visit this exhibition, which runs until February 26,” he said.
Al Qubaisi added, “We have seen a lot of traditional marine equipment that was used by sea dwellers and coastal people in the UAE in the past for fishing, pearl diving and traveling in wooden boats.”
There are tickets
Visitors can purchase tickets near the main entrance or online. Tickets cost Dh30 for adults and Dh15 for children.
Dates and Times: 17-26 February, Sunday-Thursday 4pm-11pm; Friday-Saturday 4pm-12am Where: Abu Dhabi Corniche, A’l Bahar road
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