15 February is Prophet Mohammad's official birthday, although this year we are celebrating on Thursday 17. We have the day off work giving us a long weekend. The Islamic calendar is lunar which makes their year 11 days shorter each year. This explains why Ramadan and Eids move each year. I am surprised to learn that the Prophet's birthday stays on February 15 each year. Celebrations around this day, like other high points in the Islamic calendar are acknowledged all week, with the grande finale on the day, or in our case at school the day before. Celebrations for this day are based around poetry and reflection.
Today our school assembly was a grande final with poetry readings and singing.
The wee sweethearts from Kindy got up in traditional dress and sang a song, various students from different grades read poems. A teacher read a very moving poem, with a great deal of emotion in her voice, stopping twice to compose herself. The Grade 6 girls all dressed in beautiful purple dresses with waistcoats sang which was the lead in to the finale. An outstanding Grade 11 student, Farrah, got up, beautifully dressed in an a typical Emiratai dress for such occasions and sang with the Grade 6 students singing the chorus. I have never heard such a strong voice, and such a marvelous voice. She delivered such an outstanding performance. It was so beautiful and such a pleasure to listen to. Farrah sang about the qualities of Prophet Mohammad. As it turned out her Mum is Naelia our secondary science adviser. The family are Arab, having moved from Jordan to Kuwait to UAE. Farrah's dad also has amazing musical ability, learning to sing while he was studying in Egypt. Why do I love the UAE? Their culture and their history are very important to them and they acknowledge it and celebrate it. Not in an over the top way, but in a stand and be proud way. I was privlidged to be there with them today.
7 comments:
Subhanallah! (I hope that is correct, the library's arabic book has some mistakes)
Awesome photos and post Mum, it looks far more interesting than Auckland!
Or is it Subhan'Allah?
(I'm taking the book back and finding a better one)
Yes. Excellent photos. Nice to see some faces for once. Colourful and enthusiastic.
I would have loved to hear that singing. Their outfits are lovely, particularly the mauve ones with the jackets. It must be wonderful to encounter all these different cultural celebrations, like opening a treasure chest and finding new jewels hidden underneath the first lot. I'm envious.
Those girls in traditional dress look so elegant and the young men in the immaculate white look great too. I would have loved to have heard that singing. You are certainly gaining a wonderful insight into the culture of the people amongst whom you work.
Yes. Very clear photos. Are you using a different camera? Same for the tennis one especially the one with a fuzzy background as this suggest a small aperture and a fast shutter speed.
And anyway I want to see just what happens if you get 7 responses.
OK?
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