Garangao
Garangao is traditional Middle Eastern custom that is being practiced in many of the Gulf countries. It takes place on the eve of the middle of Ramadan. In this custom, children who are beautifully dressed in traditional costumes go around the houses singing Garangao songs after sunset prayers. As they go from house to house, they ask for nuts and sweets. The giving of nuts and sweets is a symbol of giving food to the disadvantaged people of the world.
Here in Qatar, as in other Gulf countries I suppose, there is no better place to celebrate this tradition than in the schools. DMBS where my daughter goes to school had their Garangao on Thursday, September 27th. On Tuesday that same week, all the parents got a letter from the school informing us about the said activity that was going to take place in celebration of the Garangao. The letter also said that the children may come to school in National dress and bring nuts and sweets. Dimple (my friend whose daughter also goes to the same school) and I started asking each other. I was thinking, our own “National” costume and she was thinking “Qatari National costume”. Being new in school and experiencing Garangao for the first time, I had to confer with my co-parents whose children have been in DBMS since last year. I found out that it was indeed your own country’s national costume. I also learned that we have to pack some 20-25 small bags of nuts and sweets altogether to be given away on that day.
I had barely 2 days to look for a Philippine national costume: the Barong Tagalong for men and the Baro’t Saya or Terno for women. Xiane didn’t have any. Then I remembered that she has this Igorot costume (a traditional costume worn by the indigenous people of the Cordilleras, a mountainous region in the north of the Philippines) which was a hand-me-down from her Tita Ninang Iah (my sister). It wasn’t the national costume per se but I thought what the heck, it’s still something that is Filipino. This costume was actually worn by my sister and when she joined a children’s talent contest where she represented Baguio and Northern Luzon. Although Iah was the same age as Xiane when she used the costume, it seems that Xiane is a bit bigger than her because the costume is now a bit small for Xiane. But it was such a relief that it still fit her somehow.
Then we had to buy the nuts and candies. A co-parent had advised that we go to the Souq Waqif where it is cheaper. But my husband was so lazy to go to the Souq, thus we just ended up buying the items in FFC (Family Food Center). I got 3 kinds of nuts and 3 kinds of candies which we packed in sandwich bags. We were able to pack 20 bags.
The next day Xiane got into her Igorot costume. Her dad couldn’t resist taking photos of her. When we got to school, sure enough most of the younger pupils were in costumes, most of them Middle Eastern costumes. Even Princess, Xianelle’s friend who’s in KG4 was wearing a nice Qatari girl costume. It was fun to see all the kids in different colorful dresses. I even took pictures of Xiane with her classmates. But the best thing of all was that she had a swell time and had a very nice Garangao experience and took home several bags of sweets and goodies from her classmates.
