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Members of NAAP-DC serve up Thanksgiving Dinner at a homeless shelter in DC.
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In the Media
Celebrating the Arab culture with a festival
New York Newsday
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Celebrating the Arab culture with a festival
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BY AINSLEY O'CONNELL
STAFF WRITER
July 10, 2005
With a jingle of belly-dancing bangles and a dab of tahini, Bond Street yesterday became New York's version of an Arab street.
"In Egypt, it's not a party if there's not a belly dancer," said Evelyn Vongizycki, a bit out of breath as she stepped off the stage at the street festival in Greenwich Village that honored Arab-American and North African cultures.
"It's a celebration," said Vongizycki, who began belly dancing seven years ago and is of Lebanese, French and German descent. "You can be old, fat or skinny, as long as you can move."
The daylong festival came at a sensitive time for the Arab community, anxious after the London bombings about facing the kind of discriminatory treatment some experienced following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"Muslims are afraid of the backlash," said Ahmed Alkahtib, who lives in Yonkers and is Palestinian. "Terrorists are a bunch of gangsters who have nothing to do with Arab culture."
"It's not fair to project a violent act on an entire community," said Yasmin Hamidi, 24, who, as a member of the Network of Arab-American Professionals of New York, helped organize the festival.
"It doesn't have to be political or religious to be Arab," she said, gesturing to the cultural expressions surrounding her: clothes made of hata, a traditional fabric used to make the kaffiyeh headdress; stands selling baklava and tabouli; and hip scarves, tempting prospective belly dancers with shimmers of gold and bright colors.
"I stayed up until five in the morning making new things," said Nime Jamal, 47, referring to clothes made of hata.
"Some people have the wrong idea about Arabs," said Majed Seif, 33, a calligrapher and graduate student at Hunter College. "They think we came from the desert - no culture, no civilization. We have a rich culture. And today we can give people here that message."
Copyright (c) 2005, Newsday, Inc.
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This article originally appeared at:
http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/manhattan/nyc-nyarab104338208jul10,0,6811219.story
Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com
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