Culture of Jordan
Malls, global-brand stores, and hotels are important elements in Amman's urban life, especially on the Western side.
Television production in particular has thrived due to high-quality acting and creative, interesting storylines that challenge and critique contemporary Arab society.
Print media also continues to play a large role in Jordanian culture; the most widely read the Arabic language newspapers include ad-Dustour ("The Constitution") and Al Ra'i ("The Opinion").
Rural Zajal songs, with improvised poetry played with a Mijwiz, Tablah, Arghul, Oud, Rabab reed pipe and ADdaf ensemble accompanying is popular.
Notable series center around traditional village life during the time period just before World War II.
Often, these dramas are permeated by themes of tension between the ancient and modern ways of life with specific emphasis on the patriarchal systems and the role of women within them.
In the 1930s, Palestinian writer Mahmoud Seif ed-Din al-Irani published his short stories while working for the Jordanian Ministry of Culture,[10] characterized by a "once-upon-a-time resonance and a pronounced folklorishness.
"[11] The 1950s witnessed a significant change in the intellectual and creative life of Jordan, spurred by political and social upheaval, which resulted in experimentation and variety in Jordanian short stories.
In the 1960s, the short story was reconstructed as a distinct art form by writers like Mahmoud Shukair and Jamal Abu Hamdan, who used symbolism, allegory, abstraction, and underlying metaphysical questions posed by modern narrative fiction.
Affected by the defeat in the 1967 war with Israel and by internal upheavals, Jordanian stories of the 1970s focused more on the local and personal than in previous decades.
[11] Since 2000, Jordanian literature has witnessed a rise in the number of novels that address women’s daily struggles with gender discrimination, marking a shift away from literary texts that overtly focus on Palestine.
[13] In 2002, literary magazine Banipal featured contemporary Jordanian writers, including Samiha Khrais, Elias Farkouh, Mohammad Shaheen and many others.
Most archaeological attention in the 19th century, however, was focused on Palestine, since foreign archaeologists tended to be preoccupied with the proliferation of Biblical sites located there.
ACOR hosts visiting archeologists and anthropologists, funds ongoing discovery initiatives and offers fellowships for students in the region.
[17] Such displays are referred to as karam, the Arabic word for "generosity" or "hospitality" that also has implications of "nobility," "grace," and "refinement.
The men gather in the groom's tent where they dance and sing and use pistols and rifles to shoot celebratory shots in the air.
Typically, the older women in the family lead the process and talk among one another their children and which among them might make a good match as husband and wife.
The night before the wedding, the bride's hands and feet are painted with henna by the women in her family as they sing and tell stories.
Traditionally, on the morning of the wedding, the groom's friends take him to a bathhouse for an intense cleaning and a shave, singing and telling jokes all the while, but today this is less common.
Today, especially in cities such as Amman, it is also common for the wedding celebration to be shortened to make the occasion more financially affordable, as well as less time consuming.
The authentic Jordanian cuisine can range from baking, sautéing and grilling to stuffing of vegetables (grape leaves, eggplants, etc.
Herbs, garlic, spices, onion, tomato sauce and lemon are typical flavours found in Jordanian food.
The most common and popular of the appetizers is hummus, which is a puree of chick peas blended with tahini, lemon, and garlic.
Traditionally, mansaf is eaten while sitting on the floor, using ones hands to eat from a large, circular communal tray.
[20] Another famous meat dish in Southern Jordan, especially in the Bedouin desert area of Petra and Wadi Rum, is the Quzi also called as zarb.
[21] It is a Bedouin style barbeque containing chunks of meat which have been marinated in spices, as well as bread dough and vegetables which are prepared in a submerged oven called a taboon.
Breakfast usually includes a variety of white cheeses, olives, pickled vegetables, and freshly baked breads served with various fruit spreads, butter, or honey.
Some common salads are tabbouleh and salatah ‘arabiyah (chopped tomatoes, cucumber, and onions, drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice).
The large Palestinian population in the country has led to the rise of another popular dish among the people of Jordan: maqluba.
The Ottoman legacy also lives on in Jordanian cuisine, as evidenced by the presence of such dishes as one called kabsa or Riz Bukhari which is made with chicken, onions, carrots, tomatoes, orange or lemon zest and juice, and spices.
