Culture

Mansaf, the national dish of Jordan

Religion and tradition plays an important part in modern-day Jordanian society. Jordanians live in a relatively
traditional society that is increasingly grappling with the effects of globalization. Jordan is considered one of the Arab
World's most cosmopolitan countries.
According to the Center for Strategic Studies, 90% of Jordanian Muslims describe themselves as "religious" or
"relatively religious", with 52% of Jordanians regarding religious practices as "private matters that must be
differentiated from social and political life".

Arts
Further information: Jordanian art
Art in Jordan is represented through many Institutions with the aim to increase the cultural awareness in plastic and
visual arts and to represent the artistic movement in Jordan and its wide spectrum of creativity in various fields such
as paintings, sculpture, video art, photography, graphic arts, ceramics and installations.
The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts is a major contemporary art museum located in Amman, Jordan.

Popular culture
Main articles: Music of Jordan and Cinema of Jordan
Jordan imports the overwhelming majority of its music, cinema, and other forms of entertainment from other countries
most specifically other Arab countries like Lebanon and Egypt as well as the West, primarily the United States.
However, there has been a rise of home-grown songs, music, art, movies and television, although they still pale in
comparison to the amount imported from abroad. Music in Jordan is now developing by a lot of new musicians and
artist, who are now popular in the Middle East such as singer and composer Toni Qattan and singer Hani Metwasi
who changed the old notion about the music of Jordan which was unpopular for many years.

Media
Main article: Media of Jordan
Jordan ranked 141 out of 196 countries worldwide, earning "Not Free" status in Freedom House's 2011 Freedom of
the Press 2011 report. Jordan had the 5th freest press of 19 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. In
the2010 Press Freedom Index maintained by Reporters Without Borders, Jordan ranked 120th out of 178 countries
listed, 5th out of the 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. Jordan's score was 37 on a scale from 0
(most free) to 105 (least free).

Jordan: Tradition and modern culture

by Sheila Freeman
When I visited Jordan for the first time in Spring 2000 I was rather surprised to find it not quite the
"underdeveloped" country I expected.
The suburbs of its capital, Amman, are every bit as wealthy in the conventional sense as anywhere else in the
western world. Wide tree lined clean streets, well dressed children, pretty parks and, yes, supermarkets and malls
and some of the fanciest, expensive hotels I have seen anywhere.
The population of Jordan has perhaps doubled in recent decades with the influx of peoples escaping the various wars
and political pressures around them. Palestinian, Kurds, Lebanese, and more.
A rich and westernized country, this is also a country where small scale is very much thriving. The older centre of
Amman is alive with hundreds and hundreds of little shops. Few resemble in size the enormous department stores
and supermarkets we are so used to in Europe and America. Added to shops there is also a huge and thriving open
market with everything from fish to flowers. Hundreds of shoppers scurry along narrow roads that disappear up
steep staircases.
Is this something the world would like to get "back" to, I wondered. Of course it is not "back" to the time before
farming that some advocatebut it is "back" before the dominance of chain stores, multinationals, fast food and
world homogenization.
Travelling South of Amman into the desert the road comes to an end at Wadi Rum (where Lawrence of Arabia was
filmed). Here I met yet another contrast, not in space but in time.
Only fifteen years ago my friends tell me there was nothing at this spot but one lone buildinga brick police station
shaded by a couple of scrawny trees. From time to time the Bedouins gathered with their goats and camels and
heavy black woollen tents. They stopped here because, although there is no obvious sign of it, water can be found.
Very recently they lived as they had probably done for centuries.
Yet today there is a town of sortsseveral hundred one-story houses built of concrete blocks, about three sparsely
stocked shops and a little Bedouin caf where all ten of my friends caught the local bug.
There is also a "rest house"a kind of hotel minus roomsfor the "rooms" are rows and rows of little tents set up in
the sand. So well run and efficient it is as many as half the tourists who come to Jordan stop here at least long
enough to have an excellent meal and do the obligatory camel or jeep ride into the desert.
Today, the Bedouin here are not only keepers of sheep and goats, a job mostly for women, but their main income is
made from the touristsfat and thin, pale and blistered, in their shorts and knobby knees they come in the thousands,
are packed into jeeps and, for a fee, taken about a mile out into the unpaved stark and sweltering desert.
We came ourselves to climbthe incredible pink, wind eroded cliffs and mountainsdry and eery as the moon but
incomparably beautiful. We too were intruders in this ancient land.
Jordan is like so much of the so called "developing" world. The pretty, unspoiled world we as tourists would love to
find - the world we read about in 19
century novels and diaries, the world we see in the paintings and fading photos, the world also seen in todays
glossy travel posters. The reality is so different. The beauties are crumbling, disappearing, being wiped out. The
quiet places, the deserts and wildernesses are filling with houses and tourists leaving rubbish, pollution and a
th

frightening loss of wildlife. Well restored antiquities are subject to ever increasing air pollution and human
trampling. The world we wanted to leave behind is already here waiting for us. McDonalds has beat us to it.
We crossed lands which only recently had been rich farms now hardly worth plantingdry and dustythe visible
effects of global warming.
Back in Amman you have the traffic, buses, taxies, and horns. In the busiest parts of town there is no concern for
pedestrians. Actually, there are sidewalksbut attempting to cross the street is like contemplating suicide. Far from
slowing down for pedestrians, the cars seem to speed up and always lay on their horns. Despite the cars, most of the
traffic here is either delivery vans, trucks, taxies and buses. Taxies ply for trade by pulling up by any likely looking
customer and honking their horns. The fact that you are showing not the slightest desire to get aboard is no deterrent.
Women walking aloneespecially western womenare obviously in need of a lift. And for women to walk alone,
especially after dark, is not only dangerous but lonely. Local women disappear with the setting sun.
And yet some of the most hospitable people I have met anywhere were in Jordan. All were kind and welcoming but
the Bedouin surpassed belief. Far from being in danger of your money, life or "virtue" you are far more likely to be
in danger of losing Western arrogance. I met a young woman tourist from Singapore who was invited, as many
tourists are, to stay the with a Bedouin family for dinner but was made so welcome they asked her to cancel her
holiday to continue with them indefinitely. She was offered the best of their food, the best place to sleep and they
went to enormous trouble to tend to her every need, including carrying heavy bags long distances. Wishing to thank
them with some sort of present she was embarrassed to have nothing to offer but a few ballpoint pens. These were
accepted with great joy and in return they gave her a beautifully hand embroidered Bedouin dress. Stories such as
this are common.

Marriages
by solopes Updated Jan 26, 2015
Helpfulness
The first impressions confirmed immediately the social opening of Jordan culture.
Middle class marriages take place in the hotel, and men and woman celebrate in a rather "western"
party, where the presence of foreigners does not worry anyone.
By the contrary, they seemed pleased to share the joy.

Respect the differences

by solopes Updated Oct 2, 2014
Helpfulness
Despite all the tolerance that is its landmark, Jordan is a muslim country, where many people defend
the religious restrictions and cultural uses.
Mixing with other tourists is common behaviour, sometimes with a discreet reserve. However, that's
not hard to accept and respect it.

RIGHT HAND AND LEFT HAND

by davidjo Written Jun 19, 2012
Helpfulness
When in Jordan or any Moslem country you must eat with the right hand, drink with the right hand and
use the right hand when being introduced. The left hand is used for cleaning yourself after visiting the
toilet and it would be considered extremely offensive if you used your left hand for eating. The
Moslems believe that Satan uses the left hand as mentioned in a Hadith (a rule by Prophet
Mohammed)

Eating with locals the traditional way

by davidjo Written Jun 19, 2012
Helpfulness
If you are invited to visit locals in small villages they will probably follow age old customs, which will
mean that the men will eat together, and the women will eat separately, sometimes after the men. But
being a foreign guest they may make allowances and your wife or girlfriend mught end up eating with
the menfolk.

Religious Practices
by PierreZA Updated Apr 4, 2011
Helpfulness
More than 90% of Jordanians are of Islamic Faith. There are many important Christian sites in Jordan
which is very popular with tourists. There are also plenty Islamic Religious sites in Jordan (see website
mentioned).
As in other Muslim countries, it is important to respect the religion. Women do dress conservatively, so

do men.
When using taxis, men sit in the front seat, unaccompanied women & kids sit in the back.
I also never saw any women in Coffee Houses in any of the towns I visited.
I did visit some mosques, and were welcomed and was shown around.
The picture is taken on a Friday in front of King Hussein Mosque in Amman. The streets were full of
worshippers listening to the message of the Imam.
This website gives very good information on important Islamic sites in Jordan:
http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/islamic.html

Visiting a Jordanian household

by Broceliande Updated Apr 4, 2011
Helpfulness
If you are invited for a meal, one usually takes a small gift for the household.You can take flowers,
chocolates, biscuits or Arab pastries. Remember that it is not really polite to take something that the
household would consider as being very expensive.
The usual way to offer a gift like this is to hand it over as soon as you possibly can. Just mutter "this is
for the house" or something similar. However much your gift is appreciated you are unlikely to receive
more than a polite thank you. Don't be upset, this is normal.
In many houses people take off their shoes when entering, so wear slip on shoes or sandals in case.
If you are invited to a meal, almost certainly a spoon will be offered, don't hesitate to accept it.
Everybody may eat from a common plate, take the food immediately opposite to you only. When you
are full, say so, no need to burp! Water is usually offered at the end of the meal, there might be a
common glass here as well, so drink it down quickly and hand the glass back! When people have
finished eating, they will get up immediately to wash hands and mouth, without waiting for everybody
else to finish. If this happens when you are still eating, then take your time! After that, everybody lies
back on the cushions and the conversation will begin.
After a meal, coffee will be served, probably tea also after a short interval. After this, you should offer
to leave; you will be pressed to stay, it is for you to decide how sincere this is - roughly base yourself
on how much you are enjoying yourself and how much you think THEY are enjoying themselves. In
general, an invitation to supper is not necessarily an invitation to spend the evening.
The ladies : if you are part of a couple, they are unlikely to appear, the same if there are men from
outside the household present. If you are a woman alone, they MIGHT put in an appearance, and in
any case it would be perfectly proper to ask if you could thank them for the meal. However it would not
be rude not to do so.

reasons to cover up
by gregvbraun Written Jul 31, 2014
Helpfulness
There are two reasons to cover up, no matter where you are in Jordan.
1) Jordan is a conservative country, and unless you are in the trendy Shmeisani area of Amman you
won't see anyone, male or female, wear shorts unless they're homeless, mentally ill or small children;
locals consider shorts to be underwear. Arabs who dress in this way would be called out and criticized

by strangers; Westerners who do so might get cat-calls, get stared at, followed, or harassed (especially
if they're women), but the latter two are rare. Even if this is fine with you, think of what you're missing;
loads of Jordanians would avoid someone who was dressed so strangely, and many people older than
30 would consider it personally disrespectful, as though you're implying they aren't worth getting
dressed for; you'll get worse treatment in shops, restaurants, government offices, etc...
2) Jordan is a semi-arid country, and by covering your skin you are reducing the risk of dehydration by
limiting the evaporation rate of sweat . Those who don't cover up, and don't live in hot, desert-like
environments will likely get heat exhaustion, no matter how much water they drink, if they're outside
every day, and especially in places like Petra. the majority of nausea, stomach cramps and diarrhea
symptoms are not from drinking the water but from heat exhaustion.

Coffee & Tea

by PierreZA Written May 22, 2009
Helpfulness
Coffee (Turkish coffee) is a strong boiled brew of cardamom flavoured coffee. It is usually served in
small cups. You have to inform the waiter how you sweet you like your coffee, as it is prepared with
sugar. Let it settle before drinking, and do not drink the thick, muddy sediment.
Tea (shy) is sweet, often flavoured with mint and usually served in a glass.
There are many coffee shops in Downtown Amman, as well as the other places I visited in Jordan and
as in Turkey, you see waiters delivering tee and coffee to shops.