Salaams ~ as a bi-product of this research I have just discovered a rather remarkable fact from a book I knew I had to read by Ronald Codrai called Abu Dhabi, An Arabian Album; about life in the 50s and 60s. It is a superb collection of mid 20th C Photos however more specific to the subject of Kattara on page 86, 87 shows the Razha sword fighting ritual to the drum beat and on page 191 a sword dance using a curved sword. In fact the curved sword appears in the page 86 and 87 pictures going up against a straight Kattara in the mimic combat ritual. Not only was the dance performed at Eid but at social occasions, weddings and circumcision.
What is fascinating to note from the pictures is that in the absence of the Terrs Buckler Shield exponents simply used a sandal as the shield...
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
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