"Abha Tuesday Market" in 200 years .. The story of today and yesterday "news and prices and meters

While women find their demands for craftsmanship and modern .. weapons, perfumes and money

For more than 200 years, the market of Abha in the city of Asheer is a name that comes to the mind of the inhabitants of the region and its visitors, generation after generation. It is one of the oldest popular weekly markets of Asir governorates, Open ".

The market was known on Tuesday as the Ibn Medhan market before 1242 of migration, and then it was called the market Tuesday as a weekly market where were the sons of the tribes of the southern kingdom of Zahran in Dhahran, as indicated by "Hamdani".

And the market, an open forum for the exchange of news on agriculture, pastoralism and trade, and a social teacher in which meetings of friendship and reconciliation, knowledge and rapprochement meet, as well as news of rain, harvest and halal.

The market coincided with the developments of the Asir region over the years: a primitive building inspired by the elements of the environment, an organized commercial market located in the center of the most modern tourist city, to the surfaces green with smells of kadi and basil, built with beautiful architecture and using columns and concrete walls.

And has been divided into nearly 100 shops leased to beneficiaries in significant quantities to stay alive to this day and become a top tourist destination for visiting programs of visitors to the region from inside and outside the Kingdom throughout the year, especially during the holiday season, and at the same time a house of gifts and memorable memories. Visitors to acquire it.

Regarding the commercial movement within the market, the visitor now finds among his salons and shops old products such as pottery and iron, clothes, ornaments, ghee, honey, plants, flowers Aromatic, handicrafts known in Asir since antiquity, such as mowing, ablution, agriculture, agriculture, basketry, woodcarving, traditional castings in metal and jewelry ornaments, and other miscellaneous crafts.

"I know the market Tuesday since the age of 15 and I was behind the building of the emirate of Asir, then I moved elsewhere and settled to its current location "said Saeed Hamed, a 70-year-old salesman. He had laws and regulations, many of them have been on the market since Monday, in preparation for the big trade movement that was taking place at the time.

Al Hamed reviewed some of his sales, where he specialized in the sale of daggers and knives, and market visitors prefer to acquire many in all their shapes and sizes because of their customs and traditions. which symbolize the preservation of the heritage of parents and grandparents.

He added: "Dagger prices vary according to the type of dagger's head and the value of the basket and are melted with money.The prices vary from 1000 riyals to 5000 riyals, while the prices of the daggers vary. Jangers by type range from 500 riyals to 2,000 riyals and others up to 20,000 riyals, reviewing some of his possessions offered for sale Aging over 200 years old, worth up to up to 20,000 riyals. "

He explained that he was offering in his wing to market visitors a large number of daggers and janabi as well as so-called pits and sabk and fuses, shots used in ancient times.

For his part, the owner Abdullah Al-Shehri, who has a special section devoted to heritage, people and crafts, said the market was a big part of the population and visitors. as a popular market where they found their heritage and their demands.

In the same context, Mohammed Al-Baraki, the seller of silver and old clothes, said the market was competing with modern shopping malls and props, revealing a strong demand for old money become a competition during many seasons, and was frequented by many local residents and visitors. And receives external delegations.

Zayed al-Alma & # 39; i, one of the sellers of honey on the market Tuesday, said the market presents all kinds of honey between the ravine and the spine and fork, including honey . A kilo of 1000 riyals per kilo of seder, up to 400 riyals, but the fork will vary between 200 and 300 riyals depending on the quality.

The women of the Tuesday market find their old craftsmanship requirements, the most important of which is the Assiri dress, which gives an image of Assir's wife and the delicacy of her taste and artistic sense.

"Ahmed's mother", a Frenchwoman who owns a market corner for the sale of women's clothing and silver crafts, that the dress is known as the black dress adorned with lines harmonious colors tending to shiny gold lines giving harmony and rationalization, the dimensions of the engineering coordinates carefully and carefully form the chest of the Alasiri dress.

"Umm al-Ahmad continues:" The dress of Asiri continues to resonate in the eyes of women visiting Asir, where they are eager to buy and parry it.

She explained that the price of the dress was between 15 and 700 riyals, while it was higher depending on the threads entered in the embroidery and designs, as well as the uniformity of colors and colors. l & # 39; harmony.

A group of older women are exposed to aromatic plants that have characterized the heritage and customs of the people of Assir for decades. Market watchers are looking to buy these natural plants and aromatic fragrances and buy them by women, men and even children.

The seller says "Umm Khaled"; he sells aromatic plants of all kinds, such as: basil, wicker, yoghurt, ponds, mint and almonds, and finds a strong demand, explaining that the prices are symbolic from three riyals and up to 50 riyals , known to the inhabitants of Asir.