Project Overview
The twenty-two countries of the Arab enjoy a vast of cultural traditions. Conferring to the studies by United Nations in 2010, the total populace of the Arab world is roughly 359 million, implying that there is an array of cultural traditions amongst Arabs. The primary reason why Arabs have different cultural practices can be attributed to three main monotheistic religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The following is a description of some of the Arab cultural traditions that Arabs conduct:
Project Description
Greetings and Visits
One crucial aspect of an individual’s character is a good manager, which emerges with greetings. Arabs shake their hands using their right hand whenever they meet and say goodbyes. At times, failure to shake hands is considered rude, particularly among older generations (Evri, 2019). Closer friends and individuals who have not seen one another for a while may hug and kiss on both cheeks when greeting. Arab women may kiss other women, and Arab men may kiss other men. However, women and men cannot kiss one another since this is regarded as arrogant and disgraceful except if they are closer family members like a brother, sister, daughter, father, niece, or uncle. When meeting older family people like parents, grandparents, or aunties, it is habitual to kiss either the forehead, nose or right hand of the individual, depending on the family’s customs, to demonstrate admiration and respect. When a visitor comes, every person sitting in the room is needed to stand up and greet the newcomer, who then shakes his hand and kisses all attendees starting with the ones on the right side. Other Arabs, for instance, from Gulf countries, places their right hands on their heart after greetings as an indication of respect and love.
Hospitality and Food
Hospitality and generosity are other hallmarks of Arab cultural traditions. For instance, when a visitor praises an object in the picture frames on the wall, watches, purses, or clothing, the Arab may offer it to the admirer and insists that they take it. They would say, ‘take it since you like it so much. If it is something that the Arabs cannot live without, they can offer it generously. When it comes to hospitality, in regular visits, when Arabs receive a guest, they begin by giving juice or soda, followed by hot tea served with sweets like cakes and cookies. Nuts like pistachio, almond, and peanut are offered after the refreshments and kept on the table for the guest to enjoy while visiting. After the visit ends, the host must provide coffee accompanied by chocolates which is very common in the Gulf countries (Evri, 2019). Arab hospitality needs that when presenting something, the host must offer at least three times and assert on the guest tasting what is being offered before finally accepting a visitor’s negative reply. It is not regarded as hospitable to ask a visitor if he prefers tea or soda, for instance, but rather present a drink and allow them to drink it or have a sip.
Death
Arabs’ perceptions of death are that it is a family and community activity that needs care and support from every family member and society. When an individual passes away, Arad customs encourage a quicker burial with respect and dignity in a ritual known as janaza. Arabs interpret death as when an individual’s soul is sent to the afterlife for judgment. Individuals who are present at the time of absence motivate the dying individual to testify their faiths and recite the verse from the Qur’an. After death, a specialized man for dead males and a technical woman for dead females clean the corpse and covers it with a white piece of cloth. The white fabric denotes the belief that everyone is equal, coming to the universe with no clothes and leaving with simple white clothing. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor one is in their life; instead, all that counts are their actions and conduct.
Religious Life
Almost every Arab believes that most of life’s activities are coordinated by God and that man is dependent on fate as determined by God, and they have no power in controlling any life events. Arabs believe that religious affiliation is a crucial part of life, and they respect other religions’ practices except for atheists or agnostics. They tend to make their religious identities public using a headscarf and modest clothing, especially women. In addition, most Arabs decorate their houses, car, and offices with ornaments and pendants engraved with Quranic verses. Likewise, they wear jewelry with Quranic verses or engraved with Allah’s word. Inshallah is another common term used by Arabs, which means ‘If God Wills .’It is also used to deliberate on future activities and responds to requests. Other than a clear yes, Arabs may say ‘Inshallah.’
Project Conclusion
To conclude, Arab cultural traditions have a crucial impact on their everyday human affairs. Their cultural traditions are the unspoken rules of the Arab community, which are transmitted through conformity, internalization, socialization, and societal controls. Besides, the Arab cultural traditions help give the community predictability allowing them to keep order in their community.
References
Evri, Y. (2019). Partitions and Translations: Arab-Jewish Translational Models in fin de siècle Palestine. Journal of Levantine Studies, 9(1), 71-92.
write