{"id":11128,"date":"2020-03-22T11:08:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T11:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.kaleelah.com\/blog\/arab-culture-the-zaffa-in-arabic-wedding-traditions\/"},"modified":"2020-03-22T11:08:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T11:08:04","slug":"arab-culture-the-zaffa-in-arabic-wedding-traditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.kaleelah.com\/en\/blog\/arab-culture-the-zaffa-in-arabic-wedding-traditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Arab Culture: The Zaffa in Arabic Wedding Traditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you been invited to an Arab wedding, but you\u2019re not too sure about Arab wedding traditions<\/a>? In any case, you want to arrive there early because you don\u2019t want to miss the zaffa<\/em> meaning, in Arab culture, the Arab wedding entrance – a musical pageant of bendir drums, bagpipes, horns, flaming swords and belly dancers.  (Wait! Belling dancers AND flaming swords? Where\u2019s my invite?) <\/p>\n

Anthropologists don\u2019t know exactly when this tradition started, but most believe it\u2019s an ancient Egyptian tradition that predates Islam. It\u2019s also been very well documented in Egyptian movies since their beginning over 100 years ago. Anyway, the zaffa<\/em> has been around for quite some time and continues to be a mainstay of Arab weddings.<\/p>\n

So how does it happen?<\/h2>\n

Indeed, at many Arab weddings, even before the bride (in her beautiful Arab wedding dress) and the groom (in his smart and expensive suit) arrive at the reception hall, the zaffa<\/em> has already begun taking place. When you see this musical procession start \u2013 the drummers drumming, the bagpipers piping, horn players blowing, the belly dancers dancing, and the swords flaming – you know the party is about to begin and you can\u2019t help joining in the singing and dancing. <\/p>\n

The troupe of
\ndancers and musicians sings and dances for about 30 minutes as they welcome the
\nbride and groom into the reception hall and give way to the band or DJ inside
\nwhere the party continues with dancing, singing, and ululations from the
\nwomenfolk in attendance. Often, there is also a dinner which usually includes
\nthe traditional foods of the country; for example, in Jordan you might be
\neating mansaf<\/em> or zarb<\/em>. Of course, there is also the traditional
\ncutting and serving of the wedding cake, as well.<\/p>\n

Some countries even have a kind of \u201cpre-zaffa\u201d where the wedding procession cruises the streets, the newlyweds in their decorated car leading the way to the reception hall,  accompanied by the cars of their friends and family blasting their horns and cheering all along the way. It is said that, lately, even motorcycles have been joining in! <\/p>\n

So, now you\u2019re ready to be invited to an Arab wedding and enjoy the zaffa<\/em>. You might also want to start practicing the dabke<\/em>, too, but that\u2019s another article for another day. <\/p>\n

In conclusion<\/h5>\n

If you enjoyed this article and would like to know more about Arab customs and traditions, or if you\u2019ve really been invited to a wedding and you\u2019d like to learn Arabic language skills before the big day, head over to our website. Recent studies have shown that the best way to learn Arabic is through downloadable Arabic learning apps, so while you\u2019re there, why not download the Kaleela <\/a>Arabic learning app to your IOS or Android mobile device?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you been invited to an Arab wedding, but you\u2019re not too sure about Arab wedding traditions? In any case, you want to arrive there early because you don\u2019t want to miss the zaffa meaning, in Arab culture, the Arab wedding entrance – a musical pageant of bendir drums, bagpipes, horns, flaming swords and belly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-11128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-arab-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nArab Culture: The Zaffa in Arabic Wedding Traditions - Kaleela App<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Arab Culture: The Zaffa in Arabic Wedding Traditions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Have you been invited to an Arab wedding, but you\u2019re not too sure about Arab wedding traditions? 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