As Ramadan winds to a close, there are a few ways to spend the last weekend before Eid Al-Fitr (besides shopping for groceries, visiting hair salons and coordinating with your tailor).
On offer are Chinese performances, a fashion event, a charity effort for Nepal and rousing cricket matches. Here are our picks:
Chinese cultural performances
Chinese superstore Dragon Mart is hosting a series of free kung fu and “face changing” shows in honor of the upcoming Qatar-China Year of Culture 2016.
The shows will take place three times a day from 7 to 11pm for the next two weekends – July 9 to July 11, and July 16 to 18.
Attendees will have the opportunity to view traditional Chinese performances like the “Dragon Dance,” in which teams of performers maneuver long dragon costumes using poles. The dance is said to mimic the movements of the dragon, a Chinese river spirit.
Also on offer are performances of Bian Lian or “face-changing,” a traditional Chinese dance that is part of the Sichuan opera. Set against quick, dramatic music, performers in vibrantly colored costumes change “faces” i.e. masks in rapid succession, hidden only by small movements like the swipe of a fan, the turn of a head, or the wave of a hand.
There will also be kung fu demonstrations, featuring practitioners of the Chinese martial art. For more information and directions, visit Dragon Mart’s Facebook page here.
Charity bazaar
To help post-earthquake Nepal’s rebuilding effort, a fundraising organization from Education City, EC United, is hosting a charity bazaar with Qatar Red Crescent this Friday, July 10.
Headed by students at EC’s various universities, the event will take place from 7 to 11pm at Red Velvet Cupcakery in Katara Cultural Village.
The four-year-old student-run organization works to provide disaster relief to countries around the world, and has raised some QR250,000 since its inception. Its newest initiative hopes to send aid to Nepal in the wake of the earthquake that hit the region on April 25.
This weekend’s event will see vendors selling handmade crafts, apparel and other products whose proceeds will go to QRC to provide humanitarian support to the people of Nepal.
Trunk show
Those looking for a fashion fix this week can head over to the Warwick Doha Hotel from 8 to 11pm for a trunk show by internationally acclaimed handbag label Popinjay.
Carried by stores like Anthropologie and featured in numerous fashion magazines, the brand will be exhibiting their newest line of bags, Habana, and their inaugural collection, La Mezquita, at the event.
All bags at the event are on sale, and will cost 15 percent less than the normal retail price. While the event is free and open to the public, interested attendees are required to RSVP in advance via Eventbrite. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page here.
Ramadan at Katara
As the holy month comes to a close, enjoy the last few days of Katara’s Ramadan festival for their daily schedule of celebrations, exhibitions and lectures.
Eight exhibitions are currently underway in Buildings 18, 19, 13 and 22. They are free and open to the public, and focus on Islam, scientific inventions by Muslim scholars and the Qu’ran.
While most of the Ramadan workshops are already finished, there is still an ongoing daily Ramadan Solar Lanterns workshop until July 18 from 9 to 10 pm at Building 13; a final Find Your Treasure Competition from 9 to 11pm on July 10; and a Coloring Popular Figures workshop that costs QR100/person on July 10, from 8 to 10pm at the Art Studios.
The festival also has a Ramadan market with vendors selling everything from lamps to tajines, jewelry and furniture.
There are also daily preachers, reciters, and lecturers for Ishaa prayers. For a full schedule, visit the festival’s page here.
Red Bull Game On
The Gaming Lounge in Al Sadd will hold the third qualifier of the Red Bull Game On series from 8 to 10pm this weekend (July 9 to 11).
The event, which is held over several weekends, pits amateur gamers against each other to compete for one of 36 coveted spots. In a final showdown on July 16 at the Pearl Qatar, the finalists will compete for the title of the fastest gamer in Qatar.
For more information, visit the event’s Red Bull page here.
T20 cricket tournament
A month-long Ramadan T20 Cricket Tournament organized by the Lagan Cricket Club will come to a close next week, July 15, after a packed month of round robin league matches.
Eighteen teams are competing for the title and a QR50,000 cash prize, with matches held daily at the Asian Town Cricket Stadium (formerly West End Park) in the Industrial Area daily from 7 to 9pm, including this weekend.
While most participating members are expats based in Qatar, teams are also allowed to recruit five members from registered cricket teams overseas to make up their 11-man squad.
What are your plans this weekend? Thoughts?