My host father beckoned me over to the window.
"Come, see what they are doing outside."
In the street below was a grey van parked beside the half-built apartment complex opposite us. The fan was half-filled with men in keffiyah and khaki dish-dash like clothing. They were waiting as five of the others formed a semi-circled and practiced dabkeh on our street. Two or three of them stood to the side, laughing and playing hand-drums. One man in modern garb stood at their other side directing them.
I went to get my camera; but when I returned, they were gone as unexpectedly as they had come.
ok, I give up. What's dish-dash and what's dabkeh?
ReplyDeleteMary's Mom
A dishdasha (دشداشة) is very much like a thobe (ثوب); in some places the words are used for the same thing, but here in Jordan there is a definite difference. The outfit that the men were wearing was actually the traditional Desert Patrol (Bedouin/Arab Legion) garb - see here: http://www.superstock.co.uk/stock-photos-images/1890-23116
ReplyDeleteDabkeh is the traditional Levant dance done at weddings and, apparently, in the middle of the street. Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabke