Qatif Thursday Market

The Thursday Market is an old weekly popular market in the city of Qatif, in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, and is considered one of the oldest and best-known traditional markets in eastern Arabia. It takes its name from the day on which sellers and buyers customarily gathered each week.

Qatif is an ancient coastal oasis long known for its palm groves and springs, for pearl diving and for fishing. The weekly market arose in that setting as a meeting place where farmers, fishermen and craftsmen displayed their goods. Its location and organisation have changed over time, and the municipality has provided it with a prepared site, but it has kept its popular character.

The market offers dates, local vegetables and fruit, and fish, together with handmade goods such as baskets and mats woven from palm fronds and pottery vessels, and a section for birds and domestic animals. The market retains a social value for the people of Qatif, as a weekly occasion to meet and as a place where the produce of the oasis and crafts that are becoming rare elsewhere are still on show.