The annual Liwa Date Festival opened Monday in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), offering visitors a glimpse of the Emirati culture.
The festival, running from July 15 to 28, celebrates Emirati traditions with date-themed competitions, cultural displays, and family-friendly activities. It is expected to see more than 70,000 visitors this year.
The festival sets up 23 competitions, with the most-anticipated being the competition for the "Best Date Fruit," where dates are scored on their size, quality, weight, color, and flavor.
The Abu Dhabi Heritage Authority, the festival's organizer, said they have received 2.5 tons of dates from 60 farms, and the heaviest individual date bunch weighs 81.9 kilograms.
"The Liwa Date Festival is held every year this month. Every year we celebrate the harvest season of dates. One of the targets that the festival is aiming to reach is to encourage all farmers to produce their best quality of dates. We have around 8.5 million AED, which will be the prize given to farmers who participate in the competition," said Obaid Al Mazrouei, manager of the Liwa Date Festival.
Apart from date competitions and display, the festival also features various activities for visitors, including a folk market, workshops, cultural exhibitions, and activities for children and families.
Dates are the fruits of the date palm, a common tree in the deserts of West Asia and North Africa. Once a vital food source for early Arab communities, dates are rich in nutrients, earning them the nickname "desert bread."
Date palms are also important economic crops in the UAE, with over 40 million trees nationwide producing millions of tons of dates each year. There are more than 120 varieties of dates, and people make them into various food products, including date ice cream, date tomato sauce, and date vinegar.
Liwa Date Festival opens in UAE, offering glimpse of Emirati culture
