tradities verdwijnen in Qatar

(c) gerard lenting 2007


uit de krant van gisteren..............


Old regional traditions like falconry and camel racing are fast fading as people in the GCC find other interests.


In olden days, camel races were held as part of wedding ceremonies but now, races are organised by the government. There was interest earlier when there were human camel jockeys. However, once the practice of having human jockeys was banned, people took a while to get used to robots on camels. But after they saw the robots were a success, they have started coming back to the races.
Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, "A good racing camel can now cost anything from QR200,000 to QR2m. But still, we are trying to preserve the tradition," he said.
In the case of falconry, interest is waning due to international laws against the sport. A falcon owner said: One cause of lack of interest is the war in Iraq. The best falcons come from there but now our supply source for the birds has dried up."