Noora and Palm Trees

“Noora and Palm Trees” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Noora Mohamed Rashed Al Mansoori, Bayaat Al Radwan School, UAE.

Noora and Palm Trees

Noora woke up on a bright and beautiful morning and she was happy. It was the first day of the summer vacation. Noora rose from her bed quickly to arrange her bag and get ready to spend her summer vacation at her grandmother’s home in the western city of Liwa.

Noora: Father I arranged my bags and will put them in the car ready to go.

Father- Looking at Nora smiling: Wait my little one! Why are you in such a hurry?

Noora: I miss my grandmother very much.

Father: Okay, but we'll only leave after lunch.

The family began to prepare for the ride to Liwa City and they were discussing how to spend the summer vacation and the places they wanted to visit.

When they arrived in Liwa, the family’s attention was drawn to the multitude of flags on the outskirts of the road.

There were a large group of tents and a large number of people milling around.

Noora was surprised and asked her father what was happening!!!!!

Noora: Father, why are all these flags and celebrations here? Is there a specific occasion in the city of Liwa?

Father: Yes, my little girl. In the Western region of Abu Dhabi Emirate every year, Liwa host the Festival of dates where many different events are held.

Mother: We will have a special visit to the festival to get to know more about it.

When the family arrived at the grandmother's house, the grandmother enjoyed with joy and pleasure, and when they entered they saw beautiful things they had not seen before.

Noora approached her grandmother and asked her about them.

Noora: What is this beautiful stuff, my grandmother?

Grandma: Come near Noora, I will tell you about our beautiful heritage with the palms. Before the Union, we rely heavily on the palm tree.

When summer comes, we meet in the area of Liwa to our plantations of rich palm trees and dates which surpluses you with their treasure.

Noora asked her grandmother. But what do you mean of that?!

The grandmother laughed and said: When dates in the palm and it’s excess of the need at the present time, we put it in bags made from palm leaves and it is stored until we eat them throughout the year.

Palm frondsis another story. We made our house from them which call (Arish) and we also made (AL sarod, mahafa, mecab and juffair) which are the many things that you see in my house.

I still use them and I will participate in the popular market in the dates festival.

Noora: What do you mean of these things, my grandmother?

Grandma: I will explain to you a little about them. These things are made of palm fronds with handmade, so (alsarod) is made in the form of a large circle used to put food on them.

The (mahafa) is a manual fan.

(mecab) is made in a conical shape to cover the food and finally (juffair) is a basket to put dates in.

Noora: This stuff is very beautiful, my grandmother, can you teach me how to make it? Grandma: Yes, my pet, with pleasure.

Nora: It will surprise my teacher when I returned from vacation and I have made her things from my beautiful heritage.

Thank you, my grandmother!