Embajade del Reino Hachemita de Jordania

Costumes Handcrafts Dead Sea Products Traditional Food

Costumes will continue to reflect traditions and values of all ethnic heritages. Traditional costumes in Jordan reveal the rich cultural roots of the land in which they were originated. The vividly colored embroidery on dresses, hand bags, women's traditional hats & even on some pieces of house furniture represent a history of a rich social life with all its aspects.

Besides reflecting the rich surroundings of the old Jordanian society, & the skills and creativity handed down from great-grandmothers to the next generation of Jordanian women, different embroidery designs & colors has always been a common language that speaks for itself. Varied patterns of stitches and different colors of thread reflect the woman's marital status, where you can tell a married from an unmarried or a widowed woman. Each Jordanian City has its distinct style of costumes and accessories.

Visitors to Jordan can view a full range of various Jordanian traditional costumes & jewelry at the "Jordan Museum of Popular Traditions" & the "Jordan Folklore Museum". You can also find a variety of Jordanian costumes & accessories to choose from at many antique & souvenirs shops or exhibitions, some of these are:

Handcrafts

Jordanian handicrafts represent a tradition of skilled workmanship & folk-art that dates back many thousands of years. Most of the traditional Jordanian handicrafts are inspired by the surrounding environment, they evolved from abundant natural elements surrounding the Jordanian locals.

Another famous traditional Jordanian art is Weaving, which is originally a Bedouin handicraft, using sheep’s wool and goat and camel hair, to produce rugs, bags, food containers and many other beautiful items, famous for their colors of deep red, black, orange, green and natural tones of the animal’s coat.

The best example of this is Ceramics & Pottery works, since Jordan has many natural clay deposits, pottery has been made for many centuries in Jordan and utilized in daily life activities. Today pottery and ceramics are made as exquisite pieces of art.

Blown Glass is also very famous in Jordan, glass was originally made of sand and now recycled old bottles are being largely used to produce delicate pieces of glass with shades of rose, turquoise, cobalt and amber.

Traditional Food

Food & eating well represents part of the Jordanian tradition & culture. Serving certain dishes at certain social occasions has been an old inherited tradition in Jordan. We recommend that you try out some of the most famous Jordanian dishes while you are in Jordan. There are many fine restaurants that offer a wide selection of authentic Arabic and Jordanian food at reasonable prices, for more information about restaurants in Jordan go to Restaurants

Traditional dishes to try are:
* Mansaf: (The National Dish of Jordan): a whole stewed lamb, with cooked yogurt sauce served on a bed of rice.
* Muskan: chicken with onions, olive oil, pine seeds and seasoning cooked in an oven on a thick loaf of Arabic bread.
* Maglouba: a meat or fish and vegetable stew served with rice.
* Sish Kabab: pieces of lamb, marinated chicken and patties of minced and spiced lamb meat cooked over a charcoal fire with onions and tomatoes.

Of course, do not miss the world’s famous Falafel, along with Hummus (Chickpeas Purée) & Ful medames (Dried Fava Beans in Oil), or Manakeesh bi Zahtar (Thyme Pastries), for an Arabic typical breakfast meal.

Spices stand as a major ingredient in any Jordanian dish, you can find special shops selling all varieties of famous Arabic spices in Amman, especially at Amman’s Down Town marketplace Souk, where you can shop at some of the oldest shops in town. If you need detailed information about spices visit www.khurdi.com

As for local drinks, non-alcoholic beverages are essential in a Jordanian meal, whether during breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.
* Tea: one of the very popular traditional hot drinks in Jordan, usually boiled or served with herbs, especially Nana (Mint Leaves), served mainly with breakfast & after meals.
* Arabic Coffee: part of the Bedouin hospitality customs of their visitors, Arabic coffee is usually boiled with Hal (Cardamom), and served in tiny Arabic coffee cups.
* White Coffee: usually served after heavy meals, made of orange flower water.

Locally produced beer, wine & spirits are available throughout the country, as are imported drinks. The local drink that is popular with Arabic dishes is Arak; an anise-flavored liquor that is mixed with water and ice.

Dead Sea Products

400 m below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth.The formation of the Dead Sea 3 million years ago, was due to a fracture that occurred amidst the Jordan rift valley. An average of 32% salinity, constitutes for 43 billion metric tons of salt, making the Dead Sea the highest salt content of all seas, and the one sea with no forms of life to exist in its salty waters.

It has up to 50% rate of humidity, a very dense atmosphere, a pressure of 795mm & an oxygen level 10 times higher than that of any earth atmosphere. It also allows a very low penetration of UV rays, i.e. UV rays are filtered, which is less dangerous to the body in sunburn conditions.

Dead Sea salt is not a normal sea salt, its concentration of minerals is infinitely higher,
* Magnesium: with its anti-allergic influence on the skin, it also assists through the process of healing.
* Bromide: with its soothing and relaxing effect, helping sedate the nervous system.
* Iodine: essential for amending of thyroid gland function, in addition to its importance in the body's metabolic exchanges.
* Sulfur: known as a natural disinfectant.
* Potassium: a natural moisture regulator.

Being aware of the importance of all these natural mineral components, several leading Jordanian natural beauty products companies attempted to make use of this unique local treasure, extracting its most valuable elements to produce unrivaled full lines of face, hair & body care lines.

Any visitor to Jordan is anxious to pay a visit to the Dead Sea, enjoying a short drive from Amman, surrounded by a remarkable landscape. En route a stone marker indicates “Sea Level”, after descending another 400 m below this sign the calm surface of the Dead Sea can be viewed, with snow like rocks, covered with thick gleaming layers of salt, forming a striking scenery.

Several tourist facilities provide the visitor with a variety of accommodations to enjoy a swim in the warm soothing water, to recline on the water or read a newspaper, where it is impossible to sink in the thick salty water.

Modern seaside hotels include therapeutic clinics providing visitors with Dead Sea natural mud masks, besides different leisure, bathing & therapeutic facilities, meeting the needs of every day visitors or groups wishing to spend the night amidst that awing scenery.

Information by: Jordan Travel Exchange