Hospitality
One of the key aspects of Jordanian culture is the hospitality shown by hosts to their guests. This is felt even by walking around the streets of Jordan where the phrase “ahlan wa sahlan” (“I welcome you”) is heard nearly everywhere a person goes.
Old proverbs such as the following one show that traditions of hospitality date back many years:
The host must fear the guest. When he sits, he is company. When he stands, he is a poet” (Lazim al-mu’azzib yikhaf min al-dhayf. Luma yijlis howa dhayf. Luma yigum howa sha’ir).
Some of the traditions of hospitality come from Jordanian Bedouin culture. For example, oftentimes, the host and his/her guest are to share a cup of black coffee. The host drinks out of the cup first, ensuring that the coffee is the right temperature. The guest then drinks what remains of the first cup. A second cup is served to the guest, and then a third. The host also serves the guest copious amounts of food and is careful to make sure the guest is comfortable and stays as long as he/she would like. Such displays are referred to as karam, the Arabic word for “generosity” or “hospitality” that also has implications of “nobility,” “grace,” and “refinement.”
In addition to wanting to be hospitable, the host also has a reputation at stake when inviting over a guest. If a guest has an unpleasant experience, such as one including lukewarm tea or insufficient food or a feeling of being rushed off, then he/she could tarnish the reputation of the host in their shared community.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Jordan
Famous quotes containing the word hospitality:
“He was one whose glory was an inner glory, one who placed culture above prosperity, fairness above profit, generosity above possessions, hospitality above comfort, courtesy above triumph, courage above safety, kindness above personal welfare, honor above success.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 1 (1962)
“It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the universal favor with which the New Testament is outwardly received, and even the bigotry with which it is defended, there is no hospitality shown to, there is no appreciation of, the order of truth with which it deals. I know of no book that has so few readers. There is none so truly strange, and heretical, and unpopular. To Christians, no less than Greeks and Jews, it is foolishness and a stumbling-block.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Civilization does not engross all the virtues of humanity: she has not even her full share of them. They flourish in greater abundance and attain greater strength among many barbarous people. The hospitality of the wild Arab, the courage of the North American Indian, and the faithful friendships of some of the Polynesian nations, far surpass any thing of a similar kind among the polished communities of Europe.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)