Tihama the word appears in Sabaean writings, and it means “low and flate territory below the escarpment”. Arab geographers has always called the coastal plains running along the Red Sea, and gradually increase in altitude towards the east “Tihama”. In Saudi Arabia they have Tihamat Al Hijaz in the northern part, and Tihamat Asir in the south. Tihama Al Yemen
 
 
 
 
 
The Friday beautiful souq of Bayt Al-Faqih, one of the most beautiful Tihama Souqs in general in the area to the south of Hodeidah. I t was established in the early 18th century AD as a trading point for coffee which the caravans used to carry either to Hodeidah Seaport or Mokha. Also there were in the town the widest activity for the trade of the famed Yemeni Coffee Traders from Egypt, Syria, Constantinople, Morocco, Iran, India and Europe.
There is a strong tradition of local markets.
 
The Al Hodeidah spectacular fishing port. The People of the Tihama mostly fish and farm, though some of them are herders.
Tihami decorated boat
 
Tihama sword and drum dance
Doum palm, Hyphaene thebaica, growing beside the new road between Al Faza beach and Al –Khawkha beach.
The common type of Tihama building is the reed hut. They are rectangular in form, becoming dominantly circular in the midst of the Tihama plain.
Az Zuhra Hut. The building of the hut takes about twenty days. It begins with a skeleton made of branches and the boughs of trees, carefully bound together at the top.
Doum palm, Hyphaene thebaica. The timber of the Doum palm which is strong, compact, and heavy, is used for many purposes: furniture, agriculture, and building. Its leaves have been widely used for basketry, ropes, and similar fibrous items.
Their size can be as large as 6 meters across. Tihama huts takes stones, mud, reeds, grasses and palms for their materials.
The huts may look primitive from a distance, but if you walk inside the village and the houses you will be surprised of its interior beauty.
The floors and walls are completely surfaced with mud all the way up to the domed ceiling. The walls are often painted with bright colors and lively motifs.
Decoration is often applied to the ceilings, usually by the women, with highly coloured paints. The paintings represent the panoply of creation: animals, people, Islamic inscriptions and everyday objects, including cars, rockets and aeroplanes.
There is an African flavour about the Tihama’s delightfully crafted mud and reed huts and the many unveiled, brighly dreesed women seen in Public.