Storyteller extraordinaire Nadine Touma recalls the tale of those who used to dress in blue or green rags, grab long, wild sticks, all tousled with ribbons, and lead the children of the village through the fields and up a hilltop singing: "Mother rain, rain for us!" The same tradition existed from Lebanon to Syria, Jordan to Palestine, Iraq to Kuwait.Publisher at Dar Onboz and guardian of oral traditions, Touma is well versed in these ancient customs. She adds that the word commonly used then was not shita’, as in ordinary rain, but rather gaith, a word with complex meanings such as the heralding cloud, the helping hand, and all which gives life. Yamm al-ghaith!, oh mother rain!, our ancestors pleaded from the mountaintops, where the clouds could hear them.The story does not say whether this nursery rhyme truly had the power to...
Storyteller extraordinaire Nadine Touma recalls the tale of those who used to dress in blue or green rags, grab long, wild sticks, all tousled with ribbons, and lead the children of the village through the fields and up a hilltop singing: "Mother rain, rain for us!" The same tradition existed from Lebanon to Syria, Jordan to Palestine, Iraq to Kuwait.Publisher at Dar Onboz and guardian of oral traditions, Touma is well versed in these ancient customs. She adds that the word commonly used then was not shita’, as in ordinary rain, but rather gaith, a word with complex meanings such as the heralding cloud, the helping hand, and all which gives life. Yamm al-ghaith!, oh mother rain!, our ancestors pleaded from the mountaintops, where the clouds could hear them.The story does not say whether this nursery rhyme truly had the power...
Israel continues attacks on southern Lebanon, demolishes buildings in Bint Jbeil