Muscat Festival- 2014

Luckily the Muscat Festival was still going on during my mother and sister's visit.  So that is where I took them on their first day.  It was a beautiful drive over the mountains into the town of Amerat, for this part of the festival.

It started in the late afternoon.

In Amerat, they set up a mock Omani village.  It is a wonderful opportunity to see lots of Omanis reenacting traditional Omani life, trades, and customs.

This man is weaving mats from reeds.

This artist was displaying his art made from wood chips and paint.  Unfortunately, they were not for sale.  I would have loved to buy this figure.  I have seen women like this walk in front of my villa.

Joe looks on as this man is making a fishing net.

This woman is weaving decorative trim to go on clothing and purses and bags.

Well, this man is making baskets.  You can see one in the upper left corner.  Should have included it in the picture!

I actually have a picture of this woman in my Muscat Festival blog post from last year.  She is selling frankincense and the burners.

Me, Joe, and my mom, Celin.  By the way, Joe is doing so much better.  Almost ready to head back to work!

There were several food items for sale.  Joe tries out the sweet fried bread.  Think big sopapilla.

We all tasted the traditional Omani sweet, halawa.

Here they are making it.  It needs to be stirred over fire for several hours.

While I was taking pictures of the beautiful Omani girl, these four young men came up to us.  They were waving their cameras at us.  We thought they wanted us to take their pictures.  Which we were more than happy to do.

Then, this young man handed Joe his phone to take a picture of the two of us!!  It was early and we were just about the only Westerners there.  I guess we were the novelty!  :)

This group of men were burning frankincense.

We were trying to figure out what this woman was doing to the girl in the center, the one in green.  She was pouring what looked like popcorn on her head.

We were told that this is a custom similar to a christening, usually done when the child is younger.  I think I got that right.

I am always happy to see camels.  :)

This section of the festival ground was set up like a Bedouin camp.

I had never seen this instrument before.

As we were leaving, I saw this group of men.  I think they were getting ready to perform later.  I decided to take some pictures.  When they noticed me and my camera, they wanted to get closer.

These two walked up to me and posed.  Loved it!  :)

We left the festival pretty early.  We wanted to get home in time to have dinner with Austin and Savannah.  There were several performances and activities we missed.  But I love the pictures I got!