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Dubai now has many high-rise buildings and has become a very cosmopolitan city, but the traditional lifestyle can still be seen in various places.
This year, during the Dubai Shopping Festival, the Dubai Heritage Village is reminding us of the foundations that this city is built on.
An evening at the Heritage Village really is a trip into the past. On display are the various tools and methods used generations ago. Many exhibits demonstrate the traditional ways of making local foods such as breads and sweets.
Also being displayed is the process of making Laban (yoghurt) and Zibda (butter). An inflated sack called a Sigaa, made from goatskin, is hung from a wooden tripod and swung back and forth. At regular intervals air is blown into it to keep it inflated. This process of making the butter can take up to 2 hours.
Hands on
A local man sits in a corner making Mabkhar, the clay pots in which Bukhoor (incense) is burned. The man does everything by hand with only the help of shaping forks.
"I do everything by hand,” says Abu Waleed. "I started doing this when I was a young lad. It takes me a little longer now as my hands are older, but I can make a pot in around half an hour.”
Further into the Heritage Village, you can see women making carpets and tents with a simple weaving device called a Kazal.
"We mainly use Souf (wool) to make the tents,” says Mariam.
"We also use animal hair, especially camel's, to make saddles for donkeys and camels.”
It can take weeks for the ladies to make a tent from the basic tool, but the tent is so strong that nothing can pierce it.
Falcons
Around the village you can also see a number of beautiful falcons sitting on their perches (Mankala). They are closely guarded by their trainers, who have complete control over them. The birds sit quietly as people gather around, snapping pictures.
"It will not move unless I command it too,” says Dawood, the owner and trainer of a bird. "If I am not around it will try to leave its perch and look for me, so we cover its head with a Burg (mask), that way it cannot see if I am around or not.” Dawood explains that the falcon is used mainly in sport hunting.
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