During the Dubai Heritage Tour, one of the exhibits in the Heritage Village is the Bedouin Lifestyle.

Bedouin comes from the Arabic word, badawī (بدوي). This refers to a part of the predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group.

The Bedouin lifestyle is innately tied to nature and a simple life. Since few places in the desert are capable of supporting the life of even a small community for an extended period of time, the Bedouins would stay on the move with herds of sheep and goats as well as camels, the Bedouin migrated from one meagerly fertile area to another—each offered sustenance and shelter for some time, while the others were naturally replenished.



The most easily recognised aspect of a bedouin's attire is his headgear--which consists of the kufiyya-cloth and 'agal-rope that constitute proper attire for a bedouin man. The headrope in particular carries great significance, for it is indicative of the wearer's ability to uphold the obligations and responsibilities of manhood. Bedouin women, too, signal their status with their headgear--while all women are required to keep their hair covered, married women in particular wrap about their forehead a black cloth known as 'asaba.

A bedouin tent is customarily divided into two sections by a woven curtain known as a ma'nad. One section, reserved for the men and for the reception of most guests, is called the mag'ad, or 'sitting place.' The other, in which the women cook and receive female guests, is called the maharama, or 'place of the women.'

A widely quoted Bedouin saying is "Me against my brother, My brothers and I against my cousins, then my cousins and I against strangers". This saying signifies a hierarchy of loyalties based on closeness of kinship that runs from the nuclear family through the lineage, the tribe, and even, in principle at least, to an entire ethnic or linguistic group (which is perceived to have a kinship basis). The largest scale of tribal interactions is of course the tribe as a whole, led by a Sheikh (Arabic: شيخ, literally, "elder"). The tribe often claims descent from one common ancestor.

Bedouins traditionally had strong honor codes, and traditional systems of justice dispensation in Bedouin society typically revolved around such codes. The bisha'a, or ordeal by fire, is a well-known Bedouin practice of lie detection.

Bedouins mark their graves with exceptional simplicity, placing one ordinary stone at the head of the grave and one at its foot. Moreover, it is traditional to leave the clothes of the deceased atop the grave, to be adopted by whatever needy travellers may pass by.

To go for a Dubai Heritage Tour, contact One World Travel & Tourism LLC at +971 4 337 2010. For more information about the tour, visit www.owtravels.com or you can send an email to info@owtravels.com

Source:  Wikipedia