This Ramadan, the ‘Arada’ troupe warms hearts and spreads smiles with traditional chants, drum beats, sword displays, and whirling performances around Damascus’ old city neighbourhoods.
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00:00What does Ramadan mean to you?
00:03Ramadan in Syria means friendship.
00:07There is a human connection.
00:09There is generosity.
00:11Ramadan is generous.
00:13Ramadan is about helping each other.
00:17It's about being neighbors.
00:19For example, cooking is about serving your neighbor.
00:24Ramadan is about praying,
00:27having a party,
00:29having a great time,
00:31and making people happy.
00:33Because the country was in war,
00:36the traditions of the old Ramadan are gone.
00:39People have emigrated,
00:41and their homes are gone.
00:43God willing, we will return to the old Ramadan,
00:46to the old Ramadan atmosphere.
00:49My name is Mohannad Al-Halabi.
00:51I am the director of Al-Araba Shamiyeh.
00:54Al-Araba Shamiyeh
01:05Al-Araba Shamiyeh is about 4 or 10 young people
01:09dancing with their musical instruments.
01:12There is drumming,
01:14there is music,
01:16there is drumming,
01:18there is drumming,
01:20there is drumming,
01:22and there is drumming.
01:24We are 12 young people.
01:26We prepare ourselves before Ramadan,
01:29we learn Ramadan recipes,
01:33and we get involved in the old markets
01:36and the old Ramadan tents.
01:38We increase our training,
01:41for example, once a week.
01:43We learn new moves, new tricks.
01:47Al-Araba Shamiyeh
01:49The old Ramadan atmosphere in Syria
01:52is different from the rest of the world.
01:55People come here in the morning,
01:57they shop,
01:59they buy things they are used to.
02:01For example, we have the soft dates,
02:03the Indian dates, the lentils,
02:05and after iftar and after Tarawih prayer,
02:08we have special celebrations here in the Levant.
02:11We have Ramadan tents,
02:13Ramadan dinners, for example.
02:15For us, the Al-Araba Shamiyeh team,
02:18we go to the old neighborhoods
02:20and ask for recipes for the Levant,
02:22to bring life back to the people,
02:24to make them feel that the country,
02:26God willing, will improve and develop.
02:29And Ramadan comes to you,
02:31Ramadan, welcome, Ramadan,
02:33the month of repentance and forgiveness.
02:35In your days, the Qur'an was revealed,
02:37welcome, you enlightened the Levant and its people.
02:39In the old areas, people want to wear Arabic.
02:42The Arabic dress is the most beautiful and the most beautiful.
02:45We try to express the heritage of the old Damascus
02:49in our description, in our play, in our performance,
02:52and the people enjoy it.
03:01My name is Anz, I am 3 years old.
03:03My father helped me,
03:05he taught me how to do movements,
03:07how to do iftar,
03:09how to pray, how to fast.
03:11The Mawlawiyah is when we do Tahiyyat,
03:14then we fast,
03:16then we study, then we fast.
03:18When we finish, we do Tahiyyat.
03:21The Mawlawiyah was established by Mawlana Jalaluddin Al-Ruhayy.
03:24It was established in Konya, in Turkey.
03:27Of course, it was established in the 13th century.
03:29And from my family,
03:31who are familiar with the subject of singing
03:33and the Mawlawiyah,
03:35we tried as much as possible,
03:37anyone who wants to learn it, anyone who wants to practice it,
03:40to develop it in a healthy and new way.
03:43One big and one small.
03:45So it has a beautiful nature,
03:47which is the continuity of this way,
03:49that we are teaching our children this story.
03:51Or, for example, we are making a perspective
03:53that the big one is following the small one,
03:55and the small one is following the big one.
03:57I mean, there is a great and beautiful connection between them.
04:04Since the country went through 14 years of war and so on,
04:07the Mawlawiyah performances have disappeared from the scene.
04:12So now we are trying to raise small children,
04:15to teach them this heritage,
04:17so that they take revenge and don't go to war,
04:19and don't go and live in the country.
04:22The Shamiyeh performance,
04:24it needs time to learn it alone.
04:27We are trying, for example,
04:29to teach young people the first part, like Maashat.
04:32Those who want to learn the Mawlawiyah,
04:34they have to learn it in an organized and specific way.
04:37For example, it is a two-minute round.
04:40It is two minutes on the left side.
04:43In practice, of course, we increase it by three minutes,
04:45or a few minutes,
04:47so that in general, it goes from one to the other.
04:53Honestly, it expresses our old demagogy,
04:56our old habits,
04:58the clothes of our ancestors.
05:01We enjoy when we go out and wear it.
05:03We do these celebrations.
05:05In the old Shamiyeh,
05:07we describe our slogans,
05:09we try to make this heritage not be forgotten by the world.
05:13I love the performances.
05:15For me, all my life,
05:17since I was a child, I have loved the performances.
05:19I love this dress,
05:21I love to wear it and dance.
05:23There is nothing like it,
05:25or equal to it,
05:27the joy that we are bringing to the hearts of the people.
05:30And we, on the other hand,
05:32when we see a person happy,
05:34we are happy too.
05:36We are happy when we see our country's heritage
05:38moving abroad,
05:40so that the world and the West
05:42can see the old Shamiyeh heritage,
05:44the old Syrian heritage.
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