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Jeddah’s Ramadan Nights...Festival that Seeks to Revive Social, Urban Heritage

The festival, which is hosted by the Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum, simulates the life aspects of the oldest five quarters in Jeddah. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The festival, which is hosted by the Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum, simulates the life aspects of the oldest five quarters in Jeddah. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Jeddah’s Ramadan Nights...Festival that Seeks to Revive Social, Urban Heritage

The festival, which is hosted by the Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum, simulates the life aspects of the oldest five quarters in Jeddah. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The festival, which is hosted by the Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum, simulates the life aspects of the oldest five quarters in Jeddah. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum opens its doors on Thursday to the public with an assortment of heritage and artistic activities to take them to an open space of antiquity, originality, pleasure and art, in the oldest five quarters of Jeddah.

Jeddah’s Ramadan Nights is one of the events organized by the city’s residents to revive the past and remind younger generations about the life of their ancestors, their urban heritage, and social and religious traditions, under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and the General Authority for Entertainment.

The festival, which is hosted by the Abdul Raouf Khalil Museum – one of Saudi Arabia’s prominent and most beautiful museums and tourist attractions - simulates the life aspects of the oldest five quarters in Jeddah, Bab Makkah, Al-Mazloum, Al-Bahr, Al-Sham, and Al-Yaman, with their social customs and traditions.

As you cross the gate of the Museum Square, your journey into history begins, where Walid Diab, a resident of the town, welcomes you with Saudi coffee, and the most famous Hijazi greetings. The alleys of Bab al-Makkah quarter take you to Al-Sham and Al-Mazloum neighborhoods, where you will find many productive families offering beautiful handicrafts.

Then the road leads you to Al-Bahr and Yemen quarters, with all their famous food and Hijazi drinks.

Visitors in this area get to know Al-Masharati, who used to wander with his drum to wake the sleepers on the nights of Ramadan, to remind them of the time of Suhoor.

You will also meet the iconic Hakawati (the storyteller), who is embodied by Ahmed Al-Sayyad, a local resident.

“He is that talented man, who is skilled in the art of telling stories, tales, and legends that are passed down through generations; People would gather around him to listen to his anecdotes… But after television invaded our society… this social phenomenon gradually disappeared,” Al-Sayyad tells Asharq Al-Awsat.

From “the storyteller” to “Faraqna,” the man who sells clothes, kohl, combs, cosmetics, and sometimes sweets to children…

During the Ramadan Nights of Jeddah, the visitors will also get to know some of the occupations that were famous in this particular region, including coppersmiths, fishermen, and also sailors who used to go on long trips to extract pearls from the depths of the sea.

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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
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Should You Stretch before Exercise? After? Never? Here’s What to Know

Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)
Philadelphia Eagles stretch as they get ready during practice at NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP)

For many people of a certain age, high school gym class began with reaching for their toes. Then, over the years, we were told it was better to stretch after exercise.

It turns out, both those things can be true, but the differing advice has created some confusion.

Stretching can help make you more flexible, improve range of motion in your joints — and feel good. David Behm, who researches human kinetics at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s, Canada, offers this advice on when to stretch and how to do it safely:

Warm up first

It’s almost always good to stretch, but it’s better if you warm up first, said Behm, author of "The Science and Physiology of Flexibility and Stretching." He recommends a light aerobic activity such as jogging, walking or cycling for five or 10 minutes.

Follow that with some static stretching, the traditional way of reaching and holding a position (think back to that gym class). You can then do activity-specific dynamic stretching, in which you warm up the muscles with repetitive movements like leg lifts.

Behm says one minute is "the magic number" for how long to do static stretching per muscle group without fatigue.

Expand your definition of 'stretching'

Should you always stretch before exercising? If it's traditional stretching, not necessarily.

The better question, Behm says, is, "Should people increase their range of motion? Should people have better flexibility? And that is yes, because it helps prevent injuries. It helps with health. But you don’t have to stretch to achieve that."

Resistance training, for instance, can be an effective form of stretching, he said. Doing a chest press increases range of motion in your deltoids and pecs, whether with barbells, dumbbells or machines, so there is no need to stretch beforehand. Just make sure to start with a small amount of weight to warm up and then add more to train.

"You probably don’t have to do extra stretching unless you’re a gymnast, a figure skater, or even a golfer who needs a great range of motion through that swing," Behm said.

Nor do you need to stretch first if you’re going for a leisurely run. Simply start with a slow jog to warm up and then increase the pace.

Don't do it if it hurts

After exercise, "light stretching is OK, as long as you don't reach a point where you're feeling pain," Behm said. Since your muscles will be warm by that point, overdoing it makes you more likely to injure yourself.

Foam rollers can help with muscle recovery and have been shown to increase range of motion as well as stretching.

Do some static stretching before sports

If you’re playing a sport, Behm said, static stretching beforehand helps reduce muscle and tendon injury.

"If you’re going to do an explosive movement, change of direction, agility, sprint, any of these explosive activities that involve your muscles and tendons," he said, "you’re going to be stronger if you do static stretching."

People can especially get in trouble when they go back to a sport they used to play, whether it's tennis, surfing or any sort of team activity.

Also, stretch both sides equally. Lacking flexibility on one side also can lead to injury.

Sounds simple. Why all the confusion? Different studies over the years have either encouraged or discouraged stretching before exercise. Behm says that partly because some studies didn't reflect real-life conditions, or were designed with elite athletes in mind, not regular people.

"If you’re Usain Bolt, it makes a difference," said Behm. Not so much for the rest of us.