Souk Okaz Festival

Souk Okaz Festival is a Saudi cultural festival held annually as a continuation of the historical Souk Okaz in Taif Governorate. The souk is an important milestone in the history of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to being one of the largest festivals in the Kingdom, it is one of the pioneering initiatives launched by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud’s program to preserve cultural heritage.

Located in Taif Governorate on an area of about fourteen million m, Souk Okaz is the largest Arab market in Islam and pre-Islamic times and dates back to about 1,500 years. Since its inception, Souk Okaz has enriched the literary and economic movement, as it was a cultural, social, and economic forum, especially since it coincided with Hajj season. Souk Okaz was the most important cultural gathering in the history of the Arabs, where Sheikhs of tribes and clans, as well as writers, poets, leaders, and merchants, would meet.

Souk Okaz Avenue. (SPA)

The first edition of Souk Okaz was launched in 2017 and flourished even more over the years. It was organized and supervised by the Emirate of Makkah Province until 2016, after which its organization was appointed to the Ministry of Tourism, as part of the Saudi Seasons.

Okaz Festival organizes about 150 different events and several cultural programs, including courses, evenings, and competitions, in addition to horse contests with three gold, silver, and bronze prizes.

Prizes of the festival's total value reached SAR2,500,000, including the Theatrics and Creativity Award, Arabic Calligraphy Award, Folklore Art Award, and International Handicraft Award.

Souk Okaz Festival supports young skills by encouraging international awards, such as the International Poetry Award for Standard Arabic language, in which more than 141 poets and poetesses participated in 2019. Other awards also include photography, interactive visual arts, free visual arts, public speaking for juniors, creativity, entrepreneurship, and the short story under the International Prize for Arab Poetry.

Aerial photo of Souk Okaz in Taif. (SPA)

The souk includes a theatre with a capacity for 2,500 visitors. The theater hosts opening events, folk performances, and musical shows. Two cultural avenues are also part of the festival: the first one is the Culture Avenue, which deals with visual arts exhibitions, drawing, photography, sculpture, and Arabic calligraphy. The second avenue is Okaz Avenue which embodies the true identity of the historical Souk Okaz in an innovative and modern way. This avenue organizes several events, including fencing, bravery shows, Arab knights shows, and auctions for heritage items.

Souk Okaz Festival includes a realistic Okaz Neighborhood that simulates the daily life of the souk’s contemporaries in the past, in addition to hosting many events, including oration events, poetry competitions, poetry and prose meetings, and the neighborhood’s crier. Most of these events are interactive representations that transport visitors to a live scene in the souk's golden days, reflecting Arab customs at the time.

The festival also hosts children's events, such as Okaz Boys Forum, which offers educational and interactive activities that recreate the historic events of Souk Okaz in a children-appropriate setting. This enables children to learn classical Arabic, tell stories, and acquire other arts and skills.

The administration of the Okaz Festival designates a pavilion for public and private agencies, allowing them to participate in exhibitions to present their work and contributions to visitors. This festival is usually an opportunity to reprint important books about the history of Souk Okaz and its cultural value, as well as other books about the history of the Kingdom and the Arabian Peninsula.

In 2018, the foundation stone for the project to develop Souk Okaz City was laid. This project is one of the initiatives of the Ministry of Tourism within national transformation efforts. For the first time, the exhibition entitled Archaeological Treasures of Saudi Arabia was presented with augmented reality technology, displaying about four hundred artifacts.

Furthermore, Souk Okaz Festival designated an area, entitled Arabic Neighborhood, as part of its events to display international crafts and folk arts. This area seeks to achieve cultural exchange between countries, with the participation of some Arab countries as well.