Vol. XXV, No. 3 WASHINGTON 



March, 1914 



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1 



THE 



MATKONA1L 

 MAffiAlNE 



h 







VILLAGE LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND 



By John D. Whiting 



A description of the life of the present-day inhabitants of Palestine, shozving 

 how, in many cases, their customs are the same as in Bible times. Illustrated by 

 photographs by the American Colony Photographers, Jerusalem. 



PALESTINE, often called the Hoi); 

 Land, is in a general way familiar 

 to all of us from our study of the 

 Bible. Few, however, realize that the 

 manners and customs which prevailed 

 there in Biblical days are still unchanged, 

 even after an interval of 3,000 years. 

 The land today is inhabited by three dis- 

 tinct classes : the Bedouin, or nomads, a 

 wandering, war-loving race ; the Fella- 

 heen, who are the agriculturists, shep- 

 herds, and village dwellers, and the Ma- 

 daniyeh, who live in the towns and cities 

 and are artisans. 



With the advent of civilization the 

 townspeople are fast losing their ancient 

 customs and quaint costumes, but the 

 villagers adhere to both far more tena- 

 ciously. Still, no one knowing the coun- 

 try can fail to see that a time is not far 

 distant when many of their interesting 

 and long-lived habits of life will be things 

 of the past. 



THE VILLAGE HOME 



The present-day villages are located, 

 as a rule, either on the tops of hills, orig- 

 inally for protection, or near some spring 

 or source of water. Many are built upon 

 the foundations of dwellings whose origin 

 dates back thousands of years. There 

 does not exist a single example of a peas- 

 ant village that has been founded in mod- 

 ern times. 



With almost every village or district 

 there are, to a greater or lesser extent, 

 variations in the dialect of the Arabic 

 they speak, their style of dress, and the 

 homes they live in. 



On the Plain of Sharon, where stone is 

 rare or non-existent, the houses are made 

 of sun-dried brick, the roofs thatched and 

 covered with clay to shed the rain, while 

 in the mountains they are built of stone, 

 since of that material there is an inex- 

 haustible supply. 



Many have pictured in their minds 

 Mary and Joseph, after arriving at the 

 "inn" at Bethlehem and finding no room, 

 being forced to turn into some barn built 

 of timber, with lofty roof, hay mows, 

 wooden mangers, and stalls for cattle and 

 sheep. Such a stable has been the sub- 

 ject of many medieval and modern ar- 

 tists, but it does not present a really true 

 picture. Let us consider the old-style vil- 

 lage home that is most common in the 

 districts around Jerusalem and Bethle- 

 hem, for that will give us a better idea 

 of what happened on that first Christmas 

 day. 



The village streets are crooked, nar- 

 row, and unpaved. As in many of the 

 countries of the Orient, farmers live close 

 together for protection, and not on their 

 lands ; therefore in the villages there are 

 no open fields or gardens, but house is 

 next to house, except for the small walled- 



