Region's ancient frankincense trade protected by UNESCO
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2024
- (2 Apr 2018) LEAD IN:
The region of southern Oman has long been enriched by frankincense, a fragrant tree sap that's famous the world over.
But the precious commodity is under threat from over-harvesting and the Omani government and UNESCO are now protecting frankincense trees, as well as preserving archaeological sites that tell the story of the ancient trade.
STORY-LINE:
Welcome to the Land of Frankincense.
Wafting up from a burner in this quiet souq is a fragrance that's central to the history and culture of southern Oman.
Known as luban in Arabic, frankincense is a heavily-scented tree sap that's been harvested in the Horn of Africa and the eastern Arabian Peninsula for millennia.
Most people burn it in little censers called "magmar", while some claim that boiling it into a tea and drinking it will cure for all manner of ailments.
High-quality "hoggari" frankincense costs 8 Omani riyals (20 US dollars) a kilo.
"This frankincense here is hoggari, it's a medical treatment. Put it in water and drink it and it will purify you and is good for digestion and other things, really there's a lot of benefits," says trader Fadil Fadil.
The scent of hoggari is ubiquitous across the Sultanate of Oman and its fragrance even greets you at the airport.
"This frankincense here we get from a place called al-Hoggar but there's some from Hasik, Samhan, and also al-Mughsail. The frankincense from there has a black colour because of the humidity there," says Fadil.
Frankincense is famous in the West as one of the gifts that the Magi, or Three Wise Men, gave to the baby Jesus in the Christmas story.
The frankincense trade in Oman has survived across the centuries and in Medieval times it was traded from as far away as China to Greece and Madagascar.
The Ancient Egyptians used it when mummifying the dead and the Romans burned it during religious ceremonies.
But today, the trees are threatened by over-harvesting, grazing animals and construction.
In order to protect the trees, UNESCO has designated this preserve here at Wadi Dawkah a World Heritage Site.
Frankincense is the resin of trees that belong to the Boswellia family. There are several species of Boswellia tree which produce different types of resin.
Frankincense is made by scratching the tree bark and letting the resin seep out and go hard. The lumps of resin are then collected.
Wadi Dawkah site steward Ali al-Khathiri explains that the grove here contains examples of the different types of frankincense trees to protect their diversity.
"Frankincense is still considered a precious wealth. The trees are rare. In order to protect them, we collected trees from many places in the Dhofar province and we protect them at this reserve for natural frankincense trees," he says.
Along with protecting the trees themselves, the Omani authorities and UNESCO are also preserving the history of the frankincense trade in the region.
Since the 1990s, archaeologists have been excavating at al-Baleed archaeological park in Salalah.
Al-Baleed was an ancient port which became an important stop on the Silk Road, where frankincense was traded in exchange for silk, according to UNESCO.
It's one of several trading posts that have been discovered in the Dhofar region.
UNESCO has listed al-Baleed as part of a World Heritage Site called Land of Frankincense, along with the port of Kor Rori, a desert outpost called Shisr, and the Wadi Dawka tree preserve.
Ghanim al-Shanfari, director of the Land of Frankincense Museum, says the excavations of al-Baleed have uncovered some remarkable finds.
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Just to try to help clarify (the title makes this regrettably confusing) - they don't mean protecting in the sense of a protected designation of origin, or in the sense of trade protectionism. The video description is using the word "protection" to mean conservation. I think the trees are actually notoriously hard to grow outside of their natural habitat. Despite this, frankincense is surprisingly affordable depending on variety, although there are certainly more expensive ones.
Were you able to understand anything said in this video? I was really bummed that they didnt provide any English captions 😕 I've seen frankincense & myrrh plenty of times in street market vids & never thought i would actually find it in person, but my local drug store actually had it! They are small 2oz packages. ($4.99 each) it is relatively small pieces compared to what they are selling here in this video as well 😅 so i am guessing the quality must be much less also, but I was just too excited to actually find it in person! I am going to try one of them soon & I am excited to find out what they smell like 😃😃😃
@@justinmichaelroberts5013 I don't think my method worked. I also seen a video using them with a tea light wax warmer and the man put them in vegetable oil and said the smell lasted for days. I have electric warmers & they dont get AS hot. I did notice the frankincense kind of melted together in the oil but i never did smell anything. Can it go bad from being old? Even the bag itself didnt have much smell, is that normal? I might just have to invest in a tea light warmer to truly try it. It just we bought wax warmer to sell online so i have two from that 😅 plus a ceramic one.
@@marieellis6084 I'm not too sure about there being a shelf life, I dont think so really, but yeah its expected that the unheated resin will not provide much of any smell, (maybe different for higher grades? I cant say).
I have a simple ceramic tealight oil warmer that was quite inexpensive, but there are also (reasonably priced I think) adjustable metal ones (brass? not sure) that you can use to adjust the distance between the incense and the candle flame. I dont think those ones even use oil, not too sure. But yeah, whatever you do, feel free to comment and let me know how it goes!
They don’t want any competition haha trees and seeds and resin cost a fortune
Any website to buy thm please
Any website to buy them
Protecting? What the UNESCO mean by that? The best thing to do instead of protecting, why not allow all other countries to plant that trees? instead of protecting? Is there control or money involve?
@Sol Invictus I know it!