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Peasant Life in the Holy Land

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Peasant Life in the Holy Land PEASANT LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND a 2; PEASANT LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND BY THE REV. C. T. WILSON M.A. OxoN., F.R.G.S., F.S.A. Vicar of Totland Bay, I.W. Formerly of the Church jSIissionary Society, Uganda and Palestine WITH ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON AND COMPANY 1906 Printed in Great Britain PREFACE During the last forty or fifty years a flood of light has been tlirown on the ancient history of Egypt, Babylonia, Syria, and the other lands so intimately associated with Palestine, as well as on that of the Holy Land itself, thereby illustrating and con- firming the Scripture narrative. Towns and cities buried for thousands of years have been compelled to their secrets to the of the yield up spade explorer ; the story of forgotten tribes and nations has been discovered ; ancient languages have been re-learnt, and their records and literature, personal corre- spondence and private accounts, have been made accessible to the ordinary reader. In another field of research, that of the manners and customs, language and folk-lore, of these Eastern lands, much has also been accomplished, but in both much yet remains to be done. The vi PREFACE present work is a small contribution towards a fuller knowledge of the latter field. The circumstance of a long sojourn in the Holy Land has given the author a somewhat intimate acquaintance with its inhabitants. The knowledge thus acquired he feels he ought not to keep to himself, especially as, unlike most of the records revealed by pick and spade, no inconsiderable portion is in danger of being lost through the changes which time is bringing on the land. C. T. W. ToTLAxND Bay, I.W., JwMiary 23, 1906. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION ...... 1 CHAPTER I RELIGION - - - - . - 10 CHAPTEK II RELIGION {continued) - - - - - 35 CHAPTER III VILLAGE LIFE - - - - . - 57 CHAPTER IV DOMESTIC LIFE - - - - - - 89 CHAPTER V - DOMESTIC LIFE {cmtiniied) - - - - 107 CHAPTER VI DOMESTIC LIFE - - - - - (continued) _ 117 CHAPTER VII - DOMESTIC LIFE (continued) - - - - 132 vii viii CONTENTS CHAPTER VIII - - - - - 147 DOMESTIC LIFE (continued) CHAPTER IX - SHEPHERDS, HERDSMEN, ETC. - - - 161 CHAPTER X AGRICULTURE 188 CHAPTER XI 205 AGRICULTURE (continued) ----- CHAPTER XII 226 AGRICULTURE (continued) ----- CHAPTER XIII MINOR INDUSTRIES - 242 CHAPTER XIV MISCELLANEOUS 262 CHAPTER XV MISCELLANEOUS ... - 283 (continued)- CHAPTER XVI PROVERBS - - - - 302 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS NAZARETH . - Frontispiece ES SALT ------ CARMEL (scene OF ELIJAH'S SACRIFICE) A FELLAH . - - - SACRED OAK NEAR TIBNEH (JOSHUA'S BURIAL- PLACE) . - - - - AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS ROUND A WELY - COLTITYARD OF VILLAGE MOSQUE A VILLAGE EAST OF THE JORDAN KANATtR ------ SACRED TREE - - - GREEK CONVENT OF MAR GIRIUS IN WADY KELT AN ALIyEH . - - - - SHEPHERD AND SHEEP - - - - ROMAN BRIDGE OVER THE JORDAN PARAPET OF "tiling" - - - - A SHOP IN MOAB - - - - CHRISTIAN VILLAGE SCHOOL WOMEN SIFTING CORN - - - - WOMEN GRINDING . - - FLOCK RESTING AT NOON WOMEN GOING TO DRAW WATER TIBERIAS- - - - - - SHEPHERD AND SHEEP - - - - PEASANT WOMAN, SHOWING HEAD-DRESS OAK GROVE, JEBEL AJLUN PREPARING FIREWOOD FOR JLVRKET ix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS CAMELS CARRYING STONE - - - To face page 184 HILLSIDE CLOSE TO JERUSALEM, SHOWING ROCKY NATURE OF GROUND >> A FELLAH . - . - - A SOWER . - - - THRESHING CORN . - - - PLOUGHING - - - - - SCENE OF JONATHAN'S EXPLOIT NEAR MICHMASH BETHANY . - - SAKtYEH ------ BEATING OLIVES - - - - - AN OLIVE GROVE . - FISHERMAN . - . - - AN " UPPER ROOM," OLIVES DRYING ON ROOF RUINED TEMPLE NEAR TOBAZ (THE ANCIENT THEBEZ) . - - - - WEAVING HAIRCLOTH FOR TENTS WEAVING A WATER-MILL, JEBEL AJLfiN - KISSING THE HAND - - . GREAT MOSQUE IN DAMASCUS (INTERIOR) KHAN IN THE LEBANON - COFFEE-MAKING ----- PEASANTS OF THE JEBEL AJLUN IN THE HILL COUNTRY - - - - "RUJM"- - . - . PEASANT LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND INTRODUCTION An apology is needed for adding another to the long list of books on the Holy Land. My excuse is that the volume deals with the people rather than with the land, and that, too, from withm. JMany years' residence and work in Palestine have given me exceptional opportunities of seeing the inner life of the present inhabitants of the Holy Land, more especially that of the Fellahin, of whom this work treats. I have been brought into closest contact with many of them, both Christian and JNIoslem, staying in their houses, joining them at their meals, travelling long journeys with them, seeking to enter into, and sympathize Muth, their joys and sorrows in all the vicissitudes of human life, and often, for days at a time, hearing and speaking nothing but their language. I have in many cases gained their confidence, I believe, and at the same time, while not forgetful of their short- comings, I have learnt to appreciate their good and to esteem qualities some of them very highly. It is a remarkable fact that nearly all the works 2 INTRODUCTION dealing with the Holy Land and the manners and customs of its people have been written, not by residents, but by travellers. There are undoubted advantages in this fact, but there are also grave disadvantages. To the new-comer from the West, who obtains his first glimpse of Eastern life as he sets foot on the shores of Palestine, all he sees and hears comes with startling novelty. Every turn of the road or street, each group by the wayside, the long lines of camels winding down the valleys, the picturesque crowds of an Eastern market, the varied incidents of peasant life, all present brilliant pictures to eye and mind with a vividness and freshness which are apt to be much dimmed by long residence among these scenes and intimate familiarity with them. <But if we seek to get below the surface and to ^o more thoroughly into the habits and customs of the people, and to understand their thoughts and characters, much more is needed than even the most protracted journey through the country can afford. Everything connected with that land which was the cradle of our holy religion or which throws lifi-ht on the manners and customs which obtained there in olden days is of value. To the Fellahin (or peasants) of Palestine it is to whom we must chiefly go to-day to elucidate those manners and customs, and not to the Jews. The latter are, for the most part, strangers in their own land, immigrants from Europe or other conti- nents, who bring with them the tongue, garb, and ORIGIN 3 ideas of the countries where they have been so long domiciled. The Fellahin, on the contrary, are probably to a large extent the descendants of the various Gentile tribes, who were never exterminated by the Israelites, but became a race of serfs, herding the cattle and tilling the land of their Hebrew conquerors. Professor Sayce has shown that where a people has been wholly or chiefly commercial, they have been for the most part absorbed into, or dis- possessed by, a conquering race, but that where they have been agricultural or pastoral the wave of conquest has passed over them, leaving them comparatively unchanged. This has been the case in Palestine. Hebrew and Egyptian, Chaldean and Greek, Roman and have the land but the Arab, conquered ; peasant descendants of tlie pagan tribes which dwelt there at the dawn of history have clung to the soil through all these changes. Bending to the storm, they were lost sight of for awhile, but reappeared as the country settled down after each invasion. Colonel Conder, writing (' Palestine,' p. 63) on ' this subject, says : The Fellahin have been called " modern Canaanites," and if by this is meant de- scendants of the Semitic race which the Egyptians found in Palestine before the time of the Hebrew conquest, the term seems justified by what is known.' The language spoken by the Fellahin to-day is a Semitic tongue, viz., Arabic, closely related, not 1—2 4 INTRODUCTION only to Hebrew, Syriac, and Chaldee, bnt also to Ass}Tian, which latter the discoveries at Tel Amarna show to have been the literary tongue of the days of Abraham and the early patriarchs. Such being the case, it will be readily seen that a knowledge of the manners, customs, and dialects of the Fellahin of Palestine is likely to throw much light on those of the inhabitants of that land in Bible times, as well as on the scenes depicted and the histories narrated in the Sacred A'olume, It is of great importance, too, that the manners and customs now obtaining should be carefully studied and noted, as there is much danger that many of these will in a short time be lost. We are accustomed to speak of tlie East as ' unchanging '; and when compared with Europe and America it is no doubt correct. Still, even so, this epithet is only relatively, and not absolutely true. In bygone times various things have been introduced from Europe and other lands, and become naturalized, and the same process is going on now. New ideas are in some cases readily adopted. Thus, when the railway between Jaffa and Jerusalem was built, it was a surprise to many that the people so quickly adopted it as a means of travel. The same remark applies with equal force to the postal system, telegraph, machinery, as well as to smaller articles of Western origin and manufacture. Again, as a result of the modern civil code introduced into Turkey, chiefly through the in- fluence of the late Midhat Pasha, agricultural land INNOVATIONS 5 has largely passed from the communal ownership of villages into that of individuals. Material for clothing is being more and more imported from Europe, with the result that the native weavers cannot compete. As a consequence, the native industry is dying out. Thus, in a village I know, where a few years ago forty looms were in full work, only six are now to be found.
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