By Joseph Varghese
Staff Reporter
Several traditional items and practices are highlighted at a number of booths at the Darb Al Saai grounds where Qatar National Day celebrations have been going on for more than a week.
There are several booths that sell traditional Qatari food, clothes, perfumes, handicrafts and more. Another pavilion showcases the equipment used for fishing and pearl diving in the olden days.
Ali al-Subaie and Abdulaziz al- Subaie who make these traditional equipment observed that they are rarely used at present. Ali explained: “Adeen is a basket made for collecting pearl and shell from the deep sea. Another item is ‘Iftham’ that is used to keep the nose closed while the diver is in action."
“Many of the materials such as coir were imported from India, Oman and Iran. We use the palm leaves as well as bamboo for providing shelter at the beach. Coir is used to tie and secure the boat at the beach. It is also used to fasten a diver to the boat to ensure his safety.”
Abdulaziz said that they also make fishing nets. “It takes one to three months to knit a fishing net depending on the size of the net. The price also varies according to the size of the net.”
A lady at one of the shops that sell traditional food items said that there was great demand for the traditional food items, such as Koussa mahshi, Taboulleh, Motabel and Haleez among others.
"There is a good demand for the traditional food as we get more than 100 customers, on an average, buying food from our store.”
Another store that sells handmade clothes and locally produced perfumes also get a good number of visitors and record brisk sale.
