Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ observed on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night; in some traditions, Christmastide includes an octave. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world’s nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it. The traditional Christmas narrative, the Nativity of Jesus, delineated in the New Testament says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in accordance with messianic prophecies. When Joseph and Mary arrived in the city, the inn had no room and so they were offered a stable where the Christ Child was soon born, with angels proclaiming this news to shepherds who then further disseminated the information.
Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) is an annual month long event put together by the Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment (DFRE), which is a part of Dubai’s department of tourism. During the festival, shops offer discounts on their merchandise, daily car raffles and prize drawings are held to win items such as gold and cars, and there is a fireworks display. There are also a range of family activities and live shows that take place throughout Dubai.
Mummering is a Christmas-time house-visiting tradition practised in Newfoundland, Ireland and parts of the United Kingdom. Also known as mumming or janneying, it typically involves a group of friends or family who dress in disguise and visit homes within their community or neighbouring communities during the twelve days of Christmas. If the mummers are welcomed into a house, they often do a variety of informal performances that may include dance, music, jokes, or recitations. The hosts must guess the mummers’ identities before offering them food or drink. They may poke and prod the mummers or ask them questions. To make this a challenge for the hosts, the mummers may stuff their costumes, cross-dress, or speak while inhaling (ingressive speech).[1] Once the mummers have been identified, they remove their disguises, spend some social time with the hosts, and then travel as a group to the next home
The five-day Hatta Honey Festival that got under way on Wednesday has brought together leading beekeepers and honey producers in the Arabian Gulf region, including Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia as well as the UAE. The Hatta Honey Festival is part of the project to develop the Hatta region and support local industries. The event brings together a large group of beekeepers from the UAE, the Arabian Gulf and the world to exchange experiences and discuss the most successful ways to improve honey production, which was one of the ancient industries in Hatta area. The festival showcases a wide variety of honey produced by the region.
White or beige, but never black, the “desert truffle” is a rare delicacy with a dedicated marketplace in Kuwait, where remnants of the Iraqi invasion and changing weather patterns have decimated local production. Less prestigious and less expensive than its darker cousin, the Middle Eastern truffle is a prized ingredient for bedouins, who integrate it into their traditional rice and meat dishes or in sauces, boiled with onions. On the outskirts of Kuwait City, in the Rai industrial district, connoisseurs begin perusing the truffle souk at 9 a.m., surveying the various weights and colors and using their noses to select the best fungus. Some barter while others go straight for the top shelf, with the “Zebidi” variety especially prized for its use in traditional recipes. Demand is so high in the Gulf emirate’s market that each year hundreds of merchants compete for limited stall space during the cooler winter months. The market was devised by the municipality of Al-Rai, an industrial zone just northwest of Kuwait City, which oversees quality control and guarantees the traceability of the fungus.
Gulf Food, is the world’s largest annual food and beverage trade exhibition, ended its 24th run at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) with major alliance breakthroughs and multibillion-dollar export deals. The 2019 edition of the show was the largest to date, attracting more than 100,000 visitors from 200-plus countries seeking business opportunities and exploring the latest F&B products and innovation. In line with its constant evolution to deliver an unparalleled experience for exhibitors and visitors, this year’s show incorporated a range of new features under the theme ‘The World of Good. The World of Food’.
Canada’s Great Kitchen Party is a national culinary competition staged in eleven cities in which 5-10 chefs annually are invited to compete in each city. A team of food and wine critics from each city work with national critics to determine the top three winning creations and then a gold, silver and bronze medal-winning chef is crowned. To be invited to compete at a regional level is a notch in the belt. To win the gold is a major achievement! The gold medal winning chef then has the opportunity to go on to compete at the National Finals, the Canadian Culinary Championships – this year to be staged on February in Ottawa, Ontario. Only one chef wins and to be crowned the top chef in Canada is a career changer!
