The Oman Fragrance Heritage: Legacy, Identity and modern Niche Perfumery
Omani frankincense which is the best of its kind in the world, today is still rooted deeply within Omani culture and the cultures of the neighbouring countries. In fact, it is seen as a very versatile product locally within the region, apart from its use as a fragrance. Omanis chew frankincense for health benefits as well as use it to drink in water as a type of juice, it is used as an essential oil, as a perfume mixed with other fragrance commodities and it is burnt as incense in Omani homes as part of hospitality rituals for guests. It releases this wonderful holy-like earthy, woody and sweet aroma that we can sometimes associate with church rituals with the only difference being that it is punctuated with the fragrant spicy-saffron scents of the Omani air especially when burnt in the surrounds of the spice quarter in the Old Muttrah Souq of Muscut. These practices, still prevalent today in Oman has been a tradition since the ancient days of trade, so although it is no longer a main form of trade on an international level, it still flourishes in its place of origin. The quality and type of frankincense differs, depending on how far it is cultivated from the coast, meaning those used for religious rituals can be different to those used for perfuming the body.
Frankincense and religion, promoting the flourish in trade
When we think of frankincense, those memories buried within our subconscious come alive with thoughts of those merry and jingly Christmases of our childhood, or playing a part in the school nativity play receiving the three wise men or the Magi bearing the gifts of myrrh, gold and frankincense. Churches have used the prized gifts from the Magi for generations as part of church ritual ceremonies, but what makes frankincense such an important part of religious ceremonies and rituals?
Mr. Shenouda Zakaria who belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt and is Deacon of Saint John the Baptist church in Aysut, a city with a population of around 50% Coptic Christians, says that Frankincense has been important to Coptic Christians of Egypt, since the first century of Christianity. Zakaria says that it was “when Saint Mark the apostle of Jesus came to Egypt” that frankincense has been used as a sort of symbolic notion of holiness. Zakaria continues “In the Old Testament, when God used to appear to the people, they used to see something like smoke” and today priests use frankincense “as a symbol to remind them of God, just like when God appeared to the Jewish, there was smoke. In mass, the priest use it to remind the people that God is here now and it shows the presence of God.” When asked whether the use of frankincense was dependent on church denomination, especially in the Middle East in particular, he explained that some Protestant churches in Egypt do not use it at all as part of their rituals. Generally, however we can see the ritualistic significance of frankincense and the possible use of it as part of earlier Jewish tradition signifies that its use as part of religious tradition could be much much older than we think.
The modern fragrance market and competing commodities
But it is not just modern science that frankincense has had to battle with, it is also the growth of the international fragrance markets especially european fragrance markets, and the use of other commodities and their oils as perfume compounds in big brand perfumes. In the Middle East the oud commodity which has similar origins to frankincense, has been a fierce competitor in the regional fragrance market, with demand for oud based fragrances rising steadily. Today oud based fragrances have carved out their own exclusive high-end niche within western fragrance markets and although the oud component of fragrances in the west have been at the forefront of marketing campaigns, the frankincense fragrance note is used to complement many of the mukhallats or Arabian fragrance mixes available on the market today. Frankincense has become an important ingredient, making up the body of a perfume mix. But is the rise in the use of oud really bad news for frankincense?
Frankincense woven into the fabric of Arabian heritage
Apart from religious ritualistic use in the early days, Frankincense was used as a perfume product in its highly concentrated form, in Oman and the surrounding regions. Mukhallats were created with the use of other fragrance commodities such as saffron and these highly concentrated fragrance compounds were called Attar or perfumes. Attar is one of the many love-childs of the treasured silk route, a concept which originated in India. The use of frankincense as a way to fragrance the body, using attars and mukhallats, actually helped to propel and create a foundation for the coming Arabian perfume market – and as we see today, it has influenced the western perfume markets as well. This helped to bring about the Arabian fragrance industry that we know of today, woven into the fabric of Arabian heritage whilst expressing the colourful portrait of the fine commodities that were traded through the Arabian peninsula. This means that although the international trade quantities of Oman frankincense has dwindled, it has successfully claimed its place within the modern Arabian fragrance market and subsequently to some extent, the modern western perfume markets. This means that its characteristics will continue to be in demand, especially in the Middle East where there is demand for a less-synthetic and a more natural version of a fragrance product and in the west, we see that mainly synthetic fragrance compounds are used in perfumes.
Frankincense at the coming of the millennium and the growth of the Arabian fragrance market
Reaffirming the pan Arabia demand for the natural frankincense product in modern history, according to the Public Agency for Marketing of Agricultural Products (PAMAP), which was an Oman government institution, the UAE has been the largest importer of Oman frankincense since the early 2000’s and today manufacturing of Arabian fragrances occur mostly in the GCC region, with many factories located in the UAE. Out of all Oman’s exports of frankincense, the UAE accounted for 81.5% of them and although there are no clear figures for current Oman frankincense exports to the UAE, the healthy growth of the Arabian fragrance market could be a good indicator. Khalid Minhas, Manager at Sama Perfumes who also deals with the distribution of Rasasi fragrances into the UK fragrances market, says that “oriental type perfumes have a huge potential in western markets, because naturally, customers look for something new” and “oriental perfumes (continue to) enjoy enormous success in Middle Eastern markets.” Regional pan Arabia big brand fragrance houses, such as Abdul Samad Al Qureshi, Rasasi and Arabian Oud continue to use Oman frankincense as an important ingredient, with fragrances like La Yuqawam by Rasasi or the other various fragrance oil mukhallats available from Al Haramain perfumes which use Oman frankincense. Although these perfume houses like to keep true to tradition by using the purest form of the fragrance commodity, they have come to realise that in order to break through to western markets, adjustments have had to be made. Minhas mentions that “manufacturers have adjusted their products to suit individual markets by blending scents that are modern, yet maintain woody fragrances” and Mohamed Atit, Manager for Arabian Oud based in the UAE, confirms this further when he describes that “new companies come to the market with their own (newer) blends” in order to satisfy the palate of western markets. The rise of the need for Arabian fragrance houses to adjust their perfume blends for the needs of different markets, ultimately means the change of the types of commodities used to create fragrances shows us that frankincense is still in demand in the pan Arabia markets.
Frankincense as a part of Oman’s ethnic identity
Going back in time, during the first century, the frankincense trade through the Khor Rori port of Oman was of such immense importance that it actually became one of the reasons for the migrations of the Arab tribes into what is today’s modern day Oman, helping to create the ethnic make up of the country. The Yemeni Himyarites Kingdom’s capture of modern day Oman had attained its goal: the control of the Khor Rori port and benefiting immensely from the economic fruits of the frankincense trade. The Land of Frankincense Museum, located in Salalah, Oman preserves and documents the history of the trade along with access to views of the prized Khor Rori port which was the gem in the crown of the ruling Kingdoms of the time. With the coming of Islam, Oman cemented its prized commodity, to become an important part of its hospitality tradition and it’s a tradition that the current Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said continues to embrace along with the royal families of the neighbouring Gulf nations who personally commission regional perfume houses to create bespoke fine Arabian fragrances for their own personal use. So here we have it, a fine commodity celebrated through fine fragrances within its homeland. So where does that leave foreign markets, who to some extent are lacking access to the high quality natural form of frankincense? Minhas, representative of Rasasi perfumes says “a lot of the big brands entered the market to provide scents that combine French and oriental fragrances thus creating interesting and unique fragrances.” This is of course the need to adapt according to the palate of the market. And with that, it would be safe to say that although the demand for frankincense has decreased over time, it still retains its magic within its homeland, ensuring that it will arouse the interests of many generations to come, especially abroad.