Large tents erected along Al Refa Street to celebrate the National Day. Abdul Basit
By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: A large number of companies, institutions and organisations have lined up an array of events to mark Qatar’s National Day, adding colour to the celebrations this year.
Students of various expatriate schools and members of different expatriate communities were introduced to the history and traditions of Qatar in a quiz contest and a variety of cultural competitions held by the Ministry of Interior yesterday.
Qatar Airways, one of the main sponsors of the National Day events, is organising a scarf design competition that is open to the public.
Contestants can log onto www.qatarairways.com/nationalday and use simple elements provided in the website to design their own version of the National Day scarf until midnight today.
Qatar Airways is also giving away National Day scarves on a first- come-first-served basis on Monday and Tuesday at its sales offices in Qatar.
Vodafone has joined the celebrations this year with ‘Share your heritage and win great prizes’, an online competition at Vodafone’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/VodafoneQatar.
Participants can share photographs representing Qatari heritage such old Doha, homes, cars, pearl diving tools and historic coins, until midnight, December 25. These photographs will be uploaded and displayed in an online gallery on Vodafone’s Facebook page for public viewing.
Commercialbank has launched a National Day campaign designed to engage the residents in a non-profit public activity. The ‘Doing Good For Qatar’ Facebook campaign will continue through December 20.
Pledges will be posted on the bank’s Facebook page and entries will then be reflected on a map of Qatar linked to the Facebook application, where people will be able to support each other in achieving their pledges.
Many educational institutions began their celebrations last week. Carnegie Mellon University commemorated the National Day by highlighting the country’s traditions and cultural heritage at a community event at its campus last week that aimed to familiarise non-Qataris with Qatari culture and traditions by showcasing local food, music, clothes, arts and crafts.
University of Calgary-Qatar commemorated the occasion with several events in a specially designed tent at its campus. The activities included Ardha dances, a fashion show and henna application.
Qatar University will celebrate National Day tomorrow with an array of events reflecting the country’s culture, heritage and traditions from a bygone era.
Organised by the university’s Student Activities department with 150 volunteers, the celebrations will take place in the university’s stadium.
Visitors will get to learn how Qatari fishermen made their nets, the making of traditional tents, how ladies mixed henna and how furniture was made in the old days. There will be a fashion show featuring Qatari garments down the ages, an opportunity to take part in games popular in the past, displays of horse riding and classic cars and performances of traditional sword dances (Ardah).
THE PENINSULA
