Unity Day: What does it mean to you?
Road from Sana’a to Taiz a common Eid holiday trek
The trip from the capital to Taiz is one that many people take in order to visit family and friends in villages.
He takes passengers from Sana’a to Taiz on a daily basis during Eid, and he comes back to Sana’a passenger-free. As soon as he arrives back in Sana’a, he finds passengers and returns to Taiz almost immediately.
Hail and Jamal Streets in Sana’a witness a contradiction on the first night of Eid. Two days before Eid, it takes an hour to drive on these two streets because of the traffic jams caused by trade stores and people buying and selling clothes. Once those few days pass, the streets are empty yet again.
Ahmed Al-Mashwali, a clothing salesman, said he couldn’t find a space to sell the clothes he has at either Jamal or Hail Streets.
Waleed Al-Awami, a resident of Hail Street, said Sana’a becomes vacant at Eid, and streets become empty. Nothing can be seen in Hail and Jamal Streets except accumulated garbage and empty bags of clothes sold before Eid.
Al-Howaish added the traffic jams ever-present around Sana’a just before Eid move to Taiz just after Eid. The crowded neighborhoods in Sana’a turn vacant, and, as the majority of shop owners in Sana’a call Taiz their original home, they close their shops and leave to their villages to spend the holiday with their families.
People from Taiz leave elderly men and women in villages and go to work in Sana’a throughout the year. At Eid, they all return to their villages to celebrate and to be with their families who they don’t often see.
The highest number of Yemenis who marry during Eid can be found in Taiz. At least one young man in each village surrounding the city marries.
Mohammed Al-Wazeer, documentation judge in Al-Shamaiateen Court in Taiz, said that more than 150 marriage contracts were registered during the Eid holiday in Al-Shamaiateen district in Taiz alone.
Adel Al-Sharjabi, Sociology professor in Sana’a University said, “Because of the population density in Taiz, people from Taiz work in everything, Particularly in Sana’a.”
Al-Sharjabi said people from Taiz leave to Sana’a in order to find work because of centralization in Sana’a and absence of balance between Yemeni governorates.
Al-Sharjabi also said people in Taiz depend on jobs and one’s own business instead of following the tribe. They become effective members of society because everyone depends on himself.
