In most countries, the differentiation between the four seasons is clearly felt — people know spring, summer, autumn and winter. But that is not the case in GCC countries; most people of the Arabian Gulf do not know the difference between the seasons.
All that the public is aware of in this region is the difference between summer and winter. The year is divided into two sections, half of which is hot and the other half cold. They have nothing to do with the simple and relative changes that are hardly felt, other than those people who have inherited information from their predecessors.
The heritage related to customs, traditions, crafts and major professions were the livelihood of the region’s inhabitants. The people of the UAE — for instance — the city dwellers, bedouins and others used to differentiate between one season and the other.
They also used to know different seasons as a result of the appearance or disappearance of stars and constellations such as Gemini, the Pleiades, and others. The stars and constellations in different seasons have a great impact on hunting, agriculture and grazing.
They also used to divide the year into sections; every section was made up of ten days. They knew when precisely the seasons changed due to changes in the environment related to their vocations, such as the affect of stars on hunting, planting and grazing.
This also indicates that the people living by the shores had their special methods of calculating for sea diving and hunting. Thus, their differentiation of seasons was governed by the condition of the sea.
They incorporated these changes when they made their calculations to travel for trade by sea, outside the boundaries of the Arabian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and other places. The Bedouins also had their special calculations related to rain because they needed the information for grazing their livestock.
Valleys with water
The calculations of those living in valleys and rocky mountains — which extended from the upper north to the west of the peninsula to the end of the Al Batina shore in Oman — incorporated the time when valleys would start to fill up with water, given its importance to agriculture.
Discussions and debates are rife between Arab elites and ordinary people in the political and social fields. Most Arabs disagree amongst each other regarding their understanding of different political seasons. They have also disagreed on a unanimous name for the social and political movement that has been evident since the past three years.
Furthermore, I am certain that some elite groups have set up their own standards to measure matters according to their own interests. But this in turn has meant that most people do not care anymore about what these elite groups say.
Each Arab has set up his special standards related to his own interests, thus giving way to a clear duplicity in the Arab character — displaying the exact opposite of what one feels and going along with whoever provides the simplest means of livelihood.
Hence, the Arab citizen is no more concerned with the Arab spring, autumn, summer or winter because all these political differentiations have been wiped out by urgent needs.
Most people prefer the colour grey in expressing their opinion, while deep inside they have another view. As a result people have come to have value standards based on whether they have substance or not. This is also the manner in which they differentiate between the year’s four seasons.
To face this increased ideological awareness that they cannot control, some of the Arab regimes have started telling the people that they are facing an international plot and that the Arab Spring is a creation of western intelligence agencies.
They also try to show people that they are resisting a huge conspiracy against the Arab world. Spring is like any other season. Each has a time and each has something to offer that is different from the others.
Dr Khalifa Rashid Al Shaali is an Emirati writer who specialises in legal affairs.
