The Importance of Genealogy and Family History for the Palestinian People: Part I: Personal Benefits
Contributed by Arab Educational Institute on 02.03.2006:
By Leyla Zuaiter
The study of family history and genealogy has many potential benefits for the Palestinian people at the personal, community and national level. While I don’t claim that studying your family history will cure all that ails you at any of these levels, it certainly has much to offer.
Personal Benefits: the personal benefits are similar to those for family historia(...)
What’s special about Palestinian Genealogy?
Contributed by Arab Educational Institute on 02.03.2006:
By Leyla Zuaiter
Family historians around the world utilize a similar set of strategies in their research. They record what they know, collect documents and artifacts from their homes, search for diaries and letters, seek records and fellow researchers on the Internet, organize their findings with software, and attempt to understand the times and places in which their ancestors lived t(...)
Artas Folklore Center
Contributed by Artas Folklore Center on 01.03.2006:
(For more information, see www.artasfolklorecenter.net or click at left on "Our Partners"> "Artas Folklore Center")
Established in 1993, Artas Folklore Center was the first cultural center in the Bethlehem area to be licensed by the Palestinian Authority under the (...)
Maha Saca holds the book of Heritage Keeper Hanna Giacaman
Contributed by Arab Educational Institute on 27.02.2006:
Maha Saca calls attention to an important book on the history and genealogy of Bethlehem's families (in Arabic) by Hanna Giacamman, (seated on the right) to the women's group of the Arab Educational Institute (AEI) in Bethlehem. The women visited her on a fieldtrip for their workshop "Exploring your Personal(...)
Learning about Embroidery at Maha Saca’s Palestine Heritage Center
Contributed by Arab Educational Institute on 27.02.2006:
The Arab Educational Institute's women's group learns about the deep-rooted tradition of embroidery from Maha Saca, founder of the Palestine Heritage Center in Bethlehem during a field-trip taken during a workshop on family history and genealogy. Maha explains how the traditional Palestinian dress or thob is(...)
Of Olive Trees and Family Trees
Contributed by Arab Educational Institute on 25.02.2006:
By Leyla Zuaiter
This article first appeared in the November 2005 issue of This Week in Palestine.
A casual tourist passing the sign for the Badd Jaqaman Museum on Bethlehem's narrow Najajra Street may vaguely wonder what evil deeds were done by an Italian outlaw in America's Wild West to merit a museum named after him-- and why it is found in Bethlehem, of all places. If he is (...)
Paradox, Perversity and Promise: A Journey into Palestinian Genealogy
Contributed by Arab Educational Institute on 25.02.2006:
submitted by Arab Educational Institute 31.01.2006
By Leyla Zuaiter
First published in This Week in Palestine, January 2006.
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If I initially demurred when approached by Toine Van Teeffelen to give a workshop on Family History and Genealogy to the women’s group of the Arab Educational Institute (AEI) in Bethlehem, it's (1) not that I wasn't in(...)
Of Memory and Magic, Missionaries and Museums:more than meets the “eye” in Artas
Contributed by Artas Folklore Center on 25.02.2006:
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The magic of Artas begins soon after you leave Hebron Road a couple of kilometers south of Bethlehem. If the wind is just right, you can hear the clatter of hoofs and rumbling of chariots as Solomon comes into the Enclosed Garden to dally with the beloved of his Song of Songs. Cock your ear and you will hear the bark of a Tu(...)
Even the Vegetables are Strange in Artas
Contributed by Artas Folklore Center on 25.02.2006:
When sent out to buy vegetables by his wife, Musa Sanad was just as likely to return home with one of these knives collected from the village and surrounding areas, for the Artas Ethnographic Museum.
Original Content Creator: Leyla Zuaiter
Convent of the Enclosed Garden, Artas
Contributed by Artas Folklore Center on 25.02.2006:
The Convent of the Hortus Conclusus or "Enclosed Garden" was built in 1901 by engineers from the Morcos family in nearby Bethlehem to house an Italian order of nuns from Uruguy. It is thus not only a fitting reminder of the verse from Solomon's song after which it is named, but also that Artas has always bee(...)
