Winter at Darb Zubaida Festival in Northern Borders Region
RAFHA: The fourth edition of the Winter at Darb Zubaida Festival is in full swing in the historic city of Laynah in the Northern Borders Region.
Organized by the Imam Turki bin Abdullah Royal Nature Reserve Development Authority, it features diverse cultural, artistic and entertainment events that showcase the region’s rich heritage and distinct identity.
The festival, which began on Feb. 18 and runs for 10 days, includes a baloot tournament and PlayStation competition with cash prizes, the Saudi Press Agency reported recently.
It also features circus shows, musical performances, the authority’s pavilion, gift shop, honey station, shooting range, children’s tent, and agricultural education activities.
Laynah village, located 105 km south of Rafha city, is one of the most important historical sites in the Kingdom due to its ancient water wells. The wells are thousands of years old and are the subject of legends and stories explaining their origin.
The festival aims to revive the historic Darb Zubaida (or Zubaida Trail), which was a route for Muslim pilgrims and commercial convoys from Kufa in Iraq to Makkah.
The trail stretches over more than 1,400 km in the Kingdom, traversing the Northern Borders, Hail, Qassim, Madinah and Makkah regions.
Historians consider it the most important Hajj route during the Abbasid caliphate, between 750 and 850 CE, a period renowned as the Golden Age of Muslim civilization.
