General Information » Culture & Lifestyle » National Dress

On the whole, the national population always wear their traditional dress in public. For men this is the dishdash(a) or khandura – a white full length shirt dress, which is worn with a white or red checked headdress, known as a gutra. This is secured with a black cord (agal). Sheikhs and important businessmen may also wear a thin black or brown robe (known as a bisht or mishlah), over their dishdasha at important events, which is equivalent to the dinner jacket in Western culture.

In public, women wear the black abaya – a long, loose black robe that covers their normal clothes – plus a headscarf called the sheyla. The abaya is often of very sheer, flowing fabric and may be open at the front. Some women also wear a thin black veil hiding their face and/or gloves, and older women sometimes still wear a leather mask, known as a burkha, which covers the nose, brow and cheekbones. Underneath the abaya, women traditionally wear a long tunic over loose, flowing trousers (sirwall), which are often heavily embroidered and fitted at the wrists and ankles. However, these are used more by the older generation and modern women will often wear the latest fashions from international stores underneath.

National Weddings

Weddings in the UAE are a serious and very large affair. Homes are lit from top to bottom with strings of white lights and the festivities last up to two weeks. Men and women celebrate separately, normally in a hotel ballroom or convention centre, depending on the number of guests. High dowries and extravagant weddings may be a thing of the past though, as the government has placed a ceiling of Dhs.50,000 on dowries, and lavish weddings can result in a prison sentence or Dhs.500,000 fine!

The government-sponsored Marriage Fund, based in Abu Dhabi, assists Nationals with marriage – from counselling and financial assistance (long term loans up to Dhs.70,000 for a UAE National man marrying a UAE National woman) to organising group weddings to keep costs down. With so many UAE Nationals studying abroad, and so many expats in Dubai, inter-cultural marriages are increasingly common. The Marriage Fund strongly advises Nationals to marry fellow Nationals (in an effort to preserve the culture and reduce the numbers of UAE spinsters), although it is easier for a National man to marry a non-National woman than it is for a National woman to marry a non-National man.