The heritage village

The heritage is considered the best witness for the life of past nations and peoples. It is the vivid link between the present and the past, embedding mode of life of our ancestors with its experiences and sufferings and reflects the true meaning of originality. In order to maintain the link between the present and the past and due to the importance the cultural heritage in our lives, and in his deep belief as to the importance of reviving and replicating the heritage in order for the new generations to acquaint with the old hereditary and how our ancestors lived in the past, HH Sheikh Hamed bin Mohamed Al Sharqi, member of the Supreme Council and ruler of the Emirate of Fujairah has directed the heritage village to be established.

The village was therefore built in the Mudhab tourist area at the beginning of 1996, covering an area of 6000 square meters. The visitor to the village would see the past replicated vividly before his yes with all its features and intricate details, demonstrating their way of life, their homes, tools and equipment to show how inhabitants of this area lived in the past before the new riches and the resultant modern and luxurious living style of today.
The more celebrated dances of the time were, the (Ayala, harbyia- Razfa- leewa- Hiban, Tanboora, Andaisa.Toobat, Sooma, Yoola). Each of these dances has its own style and mode of performance. Some dances are peculiar to certain areas of the country, while the Al-Ayala dance is regarded as the national dance, were national songs are normally chanted during this dance, brandishing and waving sticks and swards. This dance s also the oldest dance in the region and used for calling the distant tribesmen at times of war. However, through time its mode had been changed into a call for social gathering and wedding celebrations.
The dance symbolizes noble Arab traits such as their passionate attachment with horses and cherishing horsemanship, gallantry in the face of the enemy. In this particular dance, (Ayalah) and every one swinging in rhythmic moves, completely enthralled by the rhythm of the drum beats. The dancers line up in two opposing rows with the drummer standing in the middle, When the drums begin beating violently and the dance begins, the dancers in both rows of dancers begin moving and dancing with the dances armed with swards move towards the other row (the enemy) defiantly waving their swards as if fencing against the enemy. When the opposing (enemy) row start bending their heads while continuing the dance and movement as a sign of submission and acknowledging defeat, and remain so until the sword men and the drummer retreat, victoriously back to their regiment. The enemy raw would then raise their heads and begin challenging the other row.
It was customary that each row of the Al- Ayiaalah dance comprises a minimum of 25 dancers including drummers’ tambourine bearers and a maximum of 50. The (Harbyiah) is another inspiring Bedouin dance, resembling mobilization for war and displaying courage and gallantry. It is similar in importance to the Ayialah with a slight, which is the difference between the Bedouin and urban tribal customs, and the dance is preformed without drums and suffices with the rhythmic handclaps accompanying the chanting, the singers’ war sounds, and their rhythmic moves. The dance is therefore an essentially war dance, performed by the Bedouins of the desert.
However, the Alyoola is the only dance that is more popular among the youth and children today, performed by a single dancer or two or four dancers with sticks or weapons in the middle of sandy public squares. The dancer’s throw their sticks or weapons up high and pick them as they fall before it reaches the ground in a display of the dancing skill.
In olden times, the dancers used to use real weapons loaded with ammunition. Today however, the weapons are lighter and unloaded for ease of movement and the throw.

Ox driven water wheels (Al – yazra):

Due to shallowness of the wells in the coastal date tree farms, the inhabitants of the area had improvised a primitive contraption for the irrigation of their date trees, which was an ox driven water drawing system, so called (Yazra) where the animal energy was used to draw water from the shallow wells to irrigate the palm trees. The system was composed of a 4-legged structure built of palm trunks, supporting a wheel, a pulley system rigged on above the and a robe attached to a water bag pulled by the ox moving up and down along a passage paved specially for this purpose, driven by a person pulling the water bag filled with water. At the end of the travel the water poured on a small tank from which water flows through canals to the palm trees.

Coffee Making:

Coffee making is one of the practices, that requires special skills and equipment to assist him to prepare excellent flavorful as well as tasteful coffee. The coffee making utensils are-

1. Flask (Della), a copper or metal pot used for pouring coffee into coffee cups. (Finjan). The ancient coffee flask was made of pottery.
2. Mortar (Minhaz), a deep receptacle made of metal or copper used for pound coffee beans with a conical shaped metal, wooden, or stone rod.
3. Frying pan (Miqlaa).which is copper or metal pan used for frying the coffee beans.
4. (Mihmas): a piece of metal used to move the coffee beans in the pan during the frying process.

Traditional Fishing Nets: (Al-Shasha):

This craft has been one of the most ancient traditional crafts, the inhabitants of the east coast have known, who have been practicing through the ages. The artifacts are made of palm leaves and sewn together by threads made of plant fibers, strong enough to remain in the sea for fishing and brought to shore in intervals to be left to dry in the sun, and are still used but only for demonstration purposes during occasions of traditional displays of the heritage.

Ox Fighting (butting):

Ox fighting (butting), is one of the most ancient and popular sport, which has been unique to the Emirate of FUJAIRAH, and practiced by our ancestors through the years and handed down to our children to as a hobby and in conservation of the heritage and old hobby lives on today, where ox fighting continues to be a regular event every Friday afternoon in a space specially prepared for practicing this traditional but strange hobby. The ox-fighting hobby has a great number of fans who are the hobby, which was nearly extinct, but seems to have made a strong come back now, thanks to the heritage revival authority.