Omani silver is world-renowned, and The British Museum is giving a lecture on the science and tradition behind it, as part of their exhibition on Omani jewellery and costume until September, called Adornment and Identity, which I am desperate to go to. If you're in London, please go and check it out.
The Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said Al Said, overthrew his own father in a military coup. His father, like most Arabian Peninsula rulers, was unimaginably wealthy. Like, 1000 Bentleys, solid gold furniture, fleet of jets wealthy. You know the type. But the country itself and the people who lived there were unimaginably poor, and lived a life that had died out elsewhere a thousand years ago - no schools, no roads, no hospitals, no universities. And Qaboos bin Said Al Said, despite growing up in a golden palace and living an enchanted life, saw that this was not right, and overthrew his own father to make it so. And then proceeded to use his money to build all the things Omanis had never had.
And all this happened as recently as 1970, just ten years before I was born, and shortly afterwards arrived in Oman. My parents used to tell me this story when I was little, and I loved it. It made me very proud to be an adopted Omani.
Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said
The Oryx, native to Oman, has become a national symbol of the country's renewal. Having been wiped out due to hunting, Sultan Qaboos took it upon himself to reintroduce the oryx to its native land, bringing a herd from Phoenix Zoo in the US to Jiddat Al Harasis, in the Omani desert, where the last oryx had been killed. Within twenty years the herd numbered 450, and all but 19 had been born in the desert.
This dagger, called a Khanjar, is the national emblem of Oman, worn by all Omani men as part of their traditional dress, and appears on the flag.
The mosque at Al Khuwair. This was right behind my house and the call to prayer (Adhan) was a constant in my life, waking me at the crack of dawn (which was handy, since school started at 6.45am) and seeing me off to sleep. I replicate it these days with a pink plastic alarm clock shaped like a mosque which does its tinny best to imitate the muezzin.
Omani wedding henna
Wadi Shab
