Wedding Culture- Same Old Thing

In a country where cultural diffusion occurs in practically every sector, weddings have been resistant and have had very little, if any, cultural diffusion. The traditions of weddings have stayed the same over the years and while the wedding dresses may change slightly, due to fashion, the customs and traditions have stayed the same. Many foreigners are therefore quite unaware of what the customs are.

The reasons for staying the same vary from religious reasons to upholding culture. The biggest difference, from western weddings, is the separation of men and women. Men and women do not interact in the weddings, each celebration takes place in completely different locations, sometimes different days even. The only interaction is in the end when the groom is taken by his future brothers-in-law and father-in law to the women's wedding. The women get covered before the men enter the wedding and they simply walk down to the bride and the groom greets his mother and mother-inlaw followed by the bride and groom leaving the wedding.

Furthermore, one huge tradition in men's wedding is sword dancing. It is considered a must that close relatives to the groom must sword dance and it is seen as a sign of approval and support to the wedding, therefore if the grooms brother does sword dance he is breaking a norm. Furthermore, the brother and father-in laws do not attend the grooms wedding, except to take him to the bride. Another tradition that has stood the test of time is the food. Traditional wedding food for the men's wedding is arabic coffee, red tea, sheep, or baby camel and lots of rice. You will very rarely find any western foods or wedding cakes in the men's wedding. Also, the music played is very traditional music, in men's wedding Artha which usually only includes drums and singing, while women have famous arabic singers.

Many other places have had their weddings affected by cultural diffusion. Where they start including bouquets, which are thrown by the bride to the women in the wedding, the first dance, and many other traditions that are mostly western traditions. Even in the Arab world, weddings have started to become mixed, and these other western traditions have started to take place. Qatar however, has incredibly kept the traditions intact to this very traditional and cultural event. Even when bringing in experts for Qatar's Wedding Exhibition, they bring in arabic wedding planners and fashion designers. Even some technologies have been banned in order to keep the cultural tradition of weddings. For example, camera phones are not allowed in women's weddings, women are searched before entering to ensure no camera phones are snuck in.

Therefore, it is extremely gratifying to see culture being preserved when it comes to
traditions while still accepting cultural diffusion in most other areas.