São Paulo – The Arab culture will be in the programming of the 26th Ethnicities Party that will take place on September 1st to 6th in the Santa Catarina state county of Criciúma. The event will be held at the Exhibition Pavilion José Ijair Conti, with cuisine, restaurants, tents of typical food and drinks, dance presentations and music, besides arts and crafts for sale, and the exhibition of historical photos and pieces.
The Arab Tradition, Art and Culture Association of Criciúma is organizing the Arab participation in the party. The organization’s president, Omar Saleh, says that there will be a restaurant and snack bar with Arab cuisine, besides dance presentations. In the restaurant, a buffet will serve traditional dishes such as hummus, Kibbeh nayyeh, dry quark, baba ghanoush, among others.
In the snack bar there will be sfihas, shawarma and kibbeh. According to Saleh, the ones preparing the dishes, for both the snack bar and restaurant are members of the Arab community. The gastronomic delights will be made especially for the party. In the restaurant, there will also be an exhibition of Arab objects and clothing provided by members of the community.
In the arts programming there will be an Arab dance presented by the group Luzes do Oriente (Eastern Lights) from the city of Criciúma. There will also be a belly dancing presentation by the dancers of the group on September 4th, Friday, and on September 5th, Saturday, both at 7 PM.
Saleh says that the Arab community in the city is made of about 300 people. Criciúma has 200,000 people. According to the president of the Arab Tradition, Art and Culture Association of Criciúma, around 10% of this total is a member of the association. There are doctors and lawyers, among other professions, in the community, but the majority of them work in retail.
The Ethnicities Party will be have representatives of the Italian, German, Polish, Portuguese, black and Spanish communities, besides the Arabs. The celebration receives around 20,000 people per day and attracts, besides the locals, people from neighboring counties and from other states. There will concerts with nationally-known singers such as Zé Ramalho, the country duo Marcos & Belutti, the priest Alessandro Campos and singer Armandinho.
The party aims at promoting tourism of events in the south of Santa Catarina. The event is promoted by the Criciúma City Hall, with the organization being held by the Cultural Foundation of the county. Party admission is free, but some specific attractions are to be paid for.
Service:
27ª Ethnicities Party
September 1st to 6th 2015
Exhibition Pavilion José Ijair Conti
Criciúma – Santa Catarina
http://www.criciuma.sc.gov.br/fcc/
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
