Hands-on heritage: Al Ain’s Traditional Handicrafts Festival invites participation

Organised by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, the festival runs from 23 October to 11 November and features over 900 artisans, designers, and heritage practitioners. Admission is free. New additions this year include a dedicated salon and a music pavilion.

Rauda Mohamed Al Dhaheri, Head of the Community Engagement Unit, told Gulf News: ‘You don’t see anything and leave. You participate.’

Fashion and beauty through the ages

The Traditional Fashion Pavilion traces the journey of Emirati dress from raw fabric to finished garment, showcasing patterns, colours, machinery, and styles for both women and men. Old sewing machines measure and cut as they once did. Adjacent, the salon recreates daily routines and beauty rituals of the past, where hair care was as important as clothing. Children can see how girls’ and boys’ hairstyles once looked, then learn to wear traditional dress themselves.

Mariam Sultan Al Dhaheri, Head of the Programmes Development Department, described the space as a celebration of the craft behind Emirati clothing and the elegance of women who wore it: how fabrics were chosen, what the garments were called, and how they were worn. ‘This year, the fashion pavilion shows the beauty of the craft of Emirati dress and the elegance of women in choosing what they wear, from the fabric to knowing its types, its names, and the ways it was worn. And in the salon, we show the daily routines and hair care. We teach our daughters that hair is the crown of beauty, and that care for it is a priority, just like dress.’

Rauda Mohamed Al Dhaheri sees the same care in the details. ‘From start to finish, the woman thinks of every small detail, whether it’s her hair, how she’s dressed, what kind of accessory would go well with this color.’ She explained that details which may seem incidental today were part of a considered process, and this year’s festival aims to convey that.

The rhythm of heritage

The new Traditional Music Pavilion joins Bait Al Gahwa and the fashion pavilion as the festival’s third interactive space. It is built on the idea that instruments should be understood as well as heard. Malek Al-Hammadi, Head of the Programmes Development Unit, said the team wanted to go beyond simply displaying instruments and let visitors learn how they are made and played. Young people can learn the basics of the Ayala, see how the Rahmani drum is built and played, and join activities inspired by the rababa. Two genres, the rababa and the Taghrooda, join the program for the first time.

The Ayala remains central: performers stand in two rows facing each other, shoulders close, moving their canes in time with the drums and poetry. ‘It’s an expression of unity and pride,’ Al-Hammadi said. He noted that much of the music was made by groups, often to lighten hard times. The Nahama, for example, comes from sailors entertaining themselves through gruelling work at sea. ‘We want people to know that traditional music here is not just displayed but also taught and encouraged.’

More than a showcase

Rauda Mohamed Al Dhaheri describes the festival as a journey. Visitors move from pavilion to pavilion, read the signs and sit down with the artisans, then the souk offers something to take home: an item of dress, a scent, a reminder of the day. The community is built into the souks, retail stalls and food and beverage outlets, where local entrepreneurs bring their own products and stories. The festival is meant to feel like home. ‘They will be like, ‘Yeah, but my mom had something like that. My grandmother had something like that.’ We were trying to create this connection between the community and every activation.’

She is most excited about the hands-on side. Children will learn from an artisan how to wear the Hamdaniya the proper Emirati way, and the workshop is open to anyone, whatever their age or nationality. In a world where parents are always busy, she sees the festival as a place where a family can gather and learn the traditions together.

Farah Abdulhameed Al Bakoush, Director of the Culture Festivals and Platforms Department, said the festival’s purpose goes beyond display. ‘It is not only about showcasing specific and tangible cultural elements, but in principle showing what’s the value of that.’ Pride, beauty, hospitality and generosity, she explained, are the lessons the crafts carried from one generation to the next. The festival focuses on the people who carry them: the artisans, performers and practitioners. She argued that heritage has not disappeared in the modern city but has changed form. A cup of coffee poured today still carries the old values of generosity. Families still wear national dress at Eid and on National Day. Young Emirati entrepreneurs still build products on heritage patterns, forms and names. Her favourite moment is a small one: ‘Sometimes when I pass by, I see a young lady talking to an artisan, she might not know her, but now she might have learned something.’

More than 900 artisans, designers and heritage practitioners take part. The programme includes live craft demonstrations, a Craft of the Week, pottery workshops, a Designers’ Space, the Al Maqith Trail following the Hadhar caravans from the coast to the oases, and a Falconry Zone. The new Heritage Carnival Games bring fairground play into a heritage setting, and Emirati Traditional Games return. Fifty-five productive family markets, 25 youth projects and 26 restaurants fill out the souq.

Why new elements every year if heritage is supposed to be constant? Al Bakoush said it is not finished. ‘There are so many untold stories about heritage.’ Craft, performing arts and coffee stay as the fixed core, while life in the oasis and life at sea come as stories of their own. Each year, a few more are told.