Covering of Kaaba changed at beginning of new Islamic year
MAKKAH, Saudi Arabia – The cover of the holiest Muslim site Kaaba was changed Wednesday in an elaborate annual ceremony. This annual ritual coincides with the first day of the Islamic calendar.
The new Muslim year, Hijri 1445, began Wednesday in the Middle East and many other parts of the world.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, 130 technicians and manufacturers were involved in the elaborate, ten-step process of replacing the old cloth with a new handmade kiswa.
The cloth is called kiswa in Arabic.
The cloth covering the Kaaba is made from raw silk, 120 kilograms of gold wires and 100 kilograms of silver wires. The raw materials were carefully processed in an assembly line with the largest sewing machine in the world.
Parts of the black-dyed silk fabric were embroidered by hand with verses from the Koran using gold wires. The head of the general administration of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Fahd Al-Jabri, said that training sessions were held on changing the kiswa.
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