Embracing the beauty of culture
By Estela Fuentes
The Guardsman
The Arab Cultural and Community Center brought “el Souq el Arabi,” an Arabic bazaar, to one of San Francisco’s most touristic areas on Oct 2., to celebrate the 16th annual Arab Cultural Festival
The bazaar took place in Union Square, where hundreds of Arabs and non Arabs walked through the plaza visiting booths selling, jewelry, scarves, incense, hookahs and food.
Jill Castek, who has helped run an Arabic calligraphy booth at the festival three previous years, feels that the best part of the event is “the coming together of all different types of people to celebrate Arab music, Arab food and Arabic art.”
Castek added, “I think people get a certain approachability to Arabic culture that they haven’t had before, seeing the joy in people’s faces and the kids dancing and celebrating their identity.”
The photo booth, where you could dress yourself in traditional Arabic clothes and take a picture in a Moroccan-style tent, was a first for this year’s festival. There was also a henna booth and informational booths about different Middle Eastern causes.
“Its the largest cultural gathering for Arab Americans in Northern California,” Lulu Azzghayer, a cultural program manager at the ACCC, said.
Some of the bazaar’s highlights were the live performances. The day started with storytelling for kids. The Golden Threads Fairytale Players performed “The Girl Who Lost Her Smile,” a story about a girl who one day wakes up sad and makes her city gray because her smile brings out sunshine.
Haithem El-Zabri’s favorite part of the event was the entertainment.
“The Arab Community benefits by letting their story be heard and known, and by sharing their culture,” he said.
There were also musical performances by Moroccan musicians Yassir Chadly and Bouchaib Abdelhadi. The best performance was given by Salma Habib featuring Sami Abu Shumays. Habib interacted with the audience during every song.
People in the audience got up from their seats and danced in front of the stage with smiles that stretched from ear to ear. The enchanting music even attracted tourists, bringing Caucasians and Asians to take part in the dancing.
Habib, who flew in from New York just to be a part of the festival, was very excited. The best part was seeing her come down from the stage and dance with the audience, as she embraced the beauty of her heritage.
“We have culture. We have folklore that we’re proud of. We have great things to offer that are so beautiful, that it was very important for me to be a part of this for the first time here in San Francisco,” she said. “For me to be a part of this is a great honor.”
The festival was started by the ACCC in 1995 at the San Francisco County fair building as a way to bring the Arab community together, and to teach people about Arabic culture. The ACCC, founded in 1973, is the largest organization in California dedicated to promoting Arabic culture.
To promote the festival, the ACCC uses social networking and as many media outlets as possible, but according to Azzghayer, they also rely on word of mouth and regular attendees.
“Arabs are very hospitable people and we love to teach people about our culture,” Azzghayer said. “This event is almost like having people over to your house and being able to teach them about your culture by giving them some food and letting them listen to some music, but on a much grander scale.”