How much do you really know about the Arabs? In this article we will tell you everything about the Arab culture its customs and traditions. We will enter one of the oldest and richest cultures there is. And it is very interesting, so we recommend you not to miss this post.
Arabic Culture -Definition
The RAE defines culture as “a set of lifestyles and customs, knowledge and degree of artistic, scientific, industrial development, at a time, social group, etc.” . If we take this meaning to the term that concerns us today, we can say that it is called Arabic culture to a set of lifestyles, customs, knowledge, beliefs and other cultural manifestations of the majority of the inhabitants of a large number of countries located between the Middle East and North Africa.
If we continue to define this culture, we have to cite the Arab league to understand what is meant by Arab: “Arab is a person who speaks Arabic, lives in an Arabic-speaking country and sympathizes with the aspirations of the Arab peoples”.
In this culture religion has a great weight, Islam, Around which other traditions have been developed, such as the pilgrimage to Mecca or Ramadan, among others.
The Arabian lenguage it is a common bond between all the Arab countries but, being so many countries there is a great variety of regional dialects. In turn, for the same reason of the geographical effect, there are also different customs, traditions, gastronomy, music and other cultural manifestations.
Customs of the Arab culture
Cheers
Stay with these two phrases: ahlan wa sahlan, which is said first, and assalam aleikum, which is said second, which translates as “peace be with you.”
When a man greets a woman, he cannot have physical or visual contact with her, while if he greets a man there is often physical contact, kisses, effusiveness and even walking down the street holding hands.
eat with the right hand
Once seated at the table and before eating, they thank Allah for the food. Depending on the area or customs, the use of cutlery is not always frequent, but it is usually eaten with the right hand, since the left hand is considered impure.
hamman
The hamman are the Arab baths. Women, before getting married, have to perform a bath ritual for 7 days to be clean and purified. But people don’t just go to the hammam at this time, but also on other occasions. They consist of pools of warm water to relax the body, then the path alternates through cold or hot waters; Both are usually combined.
Arab culture traditions
Taking into account what we have mentioned above, that the traditions and customs of the Arab culture may vary depending on the specific geographical area that we are talking about or visiting, in this section we are going to focus on the most frequent and similar traditions in all the countries encompassed within that culture.
How is an Arab wedding?
The woman she can only marry a Muslim man. The men he can marry up to four women and these can be of different religions. Of course, you can do it as long as you treat them all the same.
The arranged marriages or arranged they still exist, although they say that they are disappearing more and more. The origin of this type of marriage is that the law prohibits the encounter between single women and men, so it is the relatives who are looking for a good partner for their son or daughter.
Once they are introduced, they can go on dates with family members present and without any physical contact. If they liked each other, he becomes the groom and has to ask the bride’s family for her hand, finalize the dowry payment and the wedding date is specified directly. there is no courtship and premarital sex is prohibited.
So that the marriage to be valid have to pass three stages: the signing of the nuptial contract (nikah) in front of an Islamic magistrate, before whom both have to accept the marriage, the celebration of the marriage (the celebration can last for days) and its consummation.
There are many more interesting rites about Arab weddings: the purification rites that women have to carry out before the celebration of the same, the banquet and the division according to sex or the exchange of rings.
Ramadan
The ninth month of the Arab lunar year is called Ramadan, and during this month, they are required to fast during the day. The copious meals will arrive during the night, when everyone gathers as a family.
I’m not going to go any further because you have a great article here “What is Ramadan? Calendar and schedule«.
Eid al Adha
It is one of the most important celebrations of the Arab culture. Eid al-Adha, also called as Aid al-Kebir, can be translated as “festival of sacrifice” and “Great Feast”, respectively.
This celebration commemorates the passage from the Koran that speaks of Abraham and his willingness to kill his son Ishmael (in the Bible it is Isaac) to obey God. When God saw that he was willing to do so, he intervened, giving him a lamb to sacrifice in place of the child.
This festivity does not have a fixed date in the western calendar, since it depends on the lunar calendar. It is celebrated on the 10th day of the month of Zil-Hajj (Du l-hijjah), which is 70 days after Eid al-Fitr.
Pilgrimage to Mecca
The Muslim has to go to Mecca once in his life, as long as the economy and health allow it. Preferably in the month of the previous celebration, on Du l-hijjah, which is the twelfth month of the Muslim calendar.
The pilgrimage ritual can vary depending on whether you live within the city or if you come from outside. Roughly speaking, because there are many more rites that I encourage you to investigate, people pray in large numbers, kiss the black stone, walk around the Kaaba (it represents the sacred place), reproduce the steps of Abraham, the stoning of the devil, among others.
funeral rite
The Muslim Arabs maintain the funeral rite that is described in the sacred texts. They believe in reincarnation and embrace the precept: “We all belong to God and to Him we must return”, which allows them to understand death as the end of one stage and the beginning of another.
As for the funeral rite, the deceased’s eyes are closed, he is placed on his right side – he has to be oriented to the Qibla – and the ritual of wash the body. Women are the ones who wash the women and men are the ones who wash the deceased men. Subsequently the body is wrapped in cloth white cotton and buried facing Mecca. Incineration is not allowed.
Muslim wedding customs
We have already advanced something before, but we have found it interesting to immerse ourselves more fully in the Muslim wedding customs. The first thing to note is that the Arabs are people who attach great importance to the family. Therefore, marriage is mainly based on the union of families. In fact, the wedding ritual begins and ends precisely with acts between both families and throughout the process, although it is true that the bride is entertained and prepared, but it is the family that also wins in presence.
Both the mother of the bride and the sisters, cousins and women closest to her, as well as the father and older brother, have their own role in the preparations for the wedding. The women are in charge of dressing, washing, perfuming and preparing the future wife. And between both families there will be exchanges, with the contracting parties and between themselves.
In fact, one of the highlights is when the mother-in-law gives the bride some keys, bread and milk, to open the doors to her home and her family and wish her prosperity and abundance through food. This milk and dates are offered to each other by the bride and groom. By taking them, it is considered that the woman’s life is being purified. Also, that bread is cooked by the mother-in-law herself. It is a symbol of the union of the family that is now born.
The union is the fundamental link, but there is also room for the festivity in style, because the Arabs live their joy in a very symbolic way and making themselves noticed.
The bride will be accompanied by the female members of the family to be prepared and, finally, delivered to the groom. While he is accompanied by the men of his family, to get to receive his wife.
Women on one side and men on the other, always united. For example, women dance with exotic dances and men form a circle around them.
In terms of clothing, men tend to go simple, with a suit and tie or, if they prefer to follow more tradition, a white «thaub». Women wear the tunic called “abaya”, which can be in colors and very striking. Of course, there is also the veil or «niqab», which covers the entire face, with holes for the eyes.
And more symbols made with henna, because women usually decorate their hands and feet with this vegetable dye with which elements such as the circle, which reflects the absolute, are shaped; a triangle with the vertex upwards that represents the male sex and also fire; and another triangle, this time with the vertex down, which represents femininity and the element of water. Painting hands and feet with henna is believed to help ward off evil spirits.
For the Arabs, men are responsible for maintaining women and protecting them, although the Koran does not require women to be housewives and recognizes their rights with respect to marriage and divorce. It does not speak in any way of subjecting women to men, but of keeping each other company and supporting each other. However, there is a controversial part in the Koran in which men are encouraged to beat their wives if they suspect that they have been unfaithful. Apart from this, it is said that sex has to be agreed between the two, although ultimately, it will be the husband who has the final word. Among the recommendations is that they refrain from sexual intercourse on menstruation days so as not to bother the woman. And, in fact, foreplay is advised in sex, oriented so that the woman first gets pleasure.
These are the Muslim wedding customs. Did you find them interesting?