Arab American National Heritage Month 2022

1. Food

Of course, I am going to start with food! Arab cuisine coincides with Middle Eastern food, which is known to be one of the healthier cuisines. Arabs cook with various spices, including cumin, cloves, saffron, bay leaves, and sumac. One interesting fact is that lamb is a staple meat in Arab cuisine.

(P.S. If you go to a restaurant in an Arab country, do not get too surprised to see different things such as stuffed lamb intestines or raw, spiced ground beef on the menu– they are an acquired taste!)

2. Dancing

The concept of oriental dance or belly dancing developed in the Middle East hundreds of years ago. It may have developed back in Mesopotamia or even Ancient Greece. Some say that it started as a ritual for fertility and childbirth. Over time, this art form also became known to other parts of the world, mainly due to globalization; today, it has become more of an exotic practice. Nonetheless, dancing in the Arab world today has small aspects of belly dancing. If you go to Egypt, you may even witness a belly dancer at events.

A popular Arab folk dance is the ‘dabke.’ The most well known is the Palestinian dabke, but there is also the Syrian or the Lebanese dabke. This is considered a tradition, signifying the importance of family and unity as well as the hopes and struggles of the Palestinian people. The people stand in a line, holding hands, and follow intricate steps and stomps (but in dance form). In fact, the word dabke literally means “to make noise” or “stomping of the feet.” It is fun to do, but it is actually difficult to learn and follow through.

3. Music

Arab music is incredibly melodic. Arab music is based on eight melodic modes known as maqams, which create a system for music that most Arabic music is based off of. It is mostly taught orally and/or by extensively listening to it, especially since the entire goal of it is to evoke an emotion or mood in the listener. The image above depicts an instrument over 5,000 years old known as the oud. It is still considered an amazing invention of the Arabs, as it is one of the world’s earliest guitars. Below is an image of a darbuka drum known as a ‘tabla,’ which is widely used by musicians or even ordinary people just having fun looking to play music in their normal daily lives. (My grandma has some serious tabla skills.)

If you are interested in listening to popular Arabic music today, it is actually more similar to English music in some ways and, in my opinion, quite catchy. So, if you are ever interested, just go on YouTube and look up popular Arabic music to see what shows up!