Closer to Home

I was surfing the web and found this picture of one of the major interchanges in Rabieh. As some of you may know my family live in Mtayleb a town bordering Rabieh in Mount Lebanon, minutes away from this intersection. I know, I know, by US standards, this is tiny, but we're talking about Lebanon here, a country half the size of New Jersey!

Mtayleb is about 5 miles from Bikfaya, my hometown. Bikfaya means the house the house made of stone or the rock house in the old Syriac language (see panoramic view below).

In Lebanon, one's hometown is the location where one is laid to rest upon death. In fact, it is referred to as 'Mascat Ra'ess' in Arabic, which means exactly that. People are excepted to vote in their hometowns come election time. Changing one's hometown for political purposes, although acceptable by law, is not very well received by many Lebanese as it is viewed as imposing one's external and sometomes misinformed views on the locals. This does not appear to be a common practice in the nation, although it has happened more recently primarily in Beirut.

Hometown identity, as well as last name and faith, are passed on through the father traditionally.