Banned

The dolls I grew up with are banned in Saudi Arabia. Barbie® dolls supposedly sport too revealing ‎clothes. But more importantly, Barbie can be posed in some “shameful postures”. ‎

Well, umm, I’ve been to some weddings on the Arabian Peninsula that might cause one to reassess ‎the ban. Those long black flowing abayas, undone in the wedding hall of women only, hide some extraordinary ‎bits and pieces of clothing. Revealing is an understatement when postures or dancing are attempted. And I say bits and pieces because that's often what we're talking about even on a designer level.

I remind myself to never knock ‎the abaya again. That abaya may be covering something that should not be called a fashion ‎piece and should probably be banned! :)‎

A Wedding Experience

This wedding party was held in a large diwan filled with cushions A relative of the bride walked by a group of us "foreign women." Not too surprisingly, she had an enormous amount of gold. One ‎necklace alone held a round disk the size of mini-CD! 

The relative, I'll call her Fatima for fun, had a lot of hip movement and she appeared to have a lot of ‎other enhancements for the more than full-bodied look. No Barbie for sure, but she was the popular, young third wife, being all of 18 years of age according to her relatives, of a leading businessman and sheikh.

The name Fatima quickly got replaced with "Boo Peep ‎Wanna-Be." ‎Aside from her precious tastes in 21 plus karat gold gaudy (even if expensive) jewelry, she decided to wear a bright pink ante-bellum gown. The hoops were endless and also bent. As she walked by us, Boo Peep's hoop swun upwards revealing her decision to forego underwear. A very icky wedding experience!

The Morning After

Breaking news . . . it's a wedding!‎

The back of a several meter-long wedding tent

Well it’s not really breaking news—this is wedding season in the Arabian Peninsula!









With Ramadan only ‎a few weeks away, there is a rush to tie the knot. Apparently, there isn’t a prohibition on weddings ‎during Ramadan; it’s just not that convenient to arrange.‎

The season means wedding halls are booked, so what is one to do if there’s no hall available? In Sanaa, ‎Yemen, many families opt for the ultimate block party – street wedding tents. The tents are filled with ‎groups of men who gather in celebration of the marriage by chewing the narcotic leaf known as qat. ‎The tents get really warm but the tents lack the ACs one can find in the resort camp tents in Qatar. Fortunately ‎Sanaa weather is incredible during the summer months when much of the Arabian Peninsula faces ‎extremely warm temperatures. More importantly, Yemeni men prefer warm places as they enter the ‎Elysian Fields of qat dreams. I've been told that the morning after the big chew day, which is usually Thursday, feels like the morning ‎after a heavy metal act!‎

Inside the Wedding Tent on the "morning after"