Doha gears up for Garangao
Garangao, the festival of children, will be celebrated this evening with traditional fervour.
The festival that falls on the14th day of Holy Month of Ramadan, is special to the Gulf region. Clad in their traditional attire, children will come out of their homes and knock on every door in their neighbourhood to collect dried fruits, sweets and nuts from the elders in the evening.
The kids will collect the goodies in specially knit bags. They can be seen wandering around the streets until late into the night singing special Garangao songs.
The families will gather at their door steps with goodies waiting for the arrival of children. The celebrations will start immediately after Maghreb prayers and continue until midnight.
The parents, along with their children, were seen busy shopping at the sweet shops in the city yesterday. Many shops witnessed brisk sales of specially designed Garangao bags.
Youth clubs, cultural organizations, government agencies, educational institutions and shopping malls have geared up to celebrate the event.
The Public Works Authority (Ashghal), too, will be joining the celebrations. It has already distributed around 10,000 Garangao bags to the children.
Ashghal's mascot 'Shaghool' distributed bags and goodies to hundreds of children who gathered in the premises of head post offices, where the cannon fire marks the end of fasting at dusk.
The Traffic and Patrol Department has made elaborate arrangements to ensure that the children celebrate the festival in safe environment.
The traffic department has urged the motorists to drive slowly and take more precautions wherever they see children crossing the roads. It will also deploy more patrol vehicles to ensure safe movements of traffic in the evening.
The Traffic and Patrols Department will also host cultural activities at Souq Waqif to mark the occasion. A series of recreational activities has been planned for the children. Sweets and gift packets will be distributed to all the visiting children.
The Pen
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