Hama

Hama

The town of Skelbieh was part of the governorate of Hama. It was a thirty minute drive south west of its mother city. Whenever a baby was born in Skelbieh the parents had to register their baby in Hama at the office of Births, Deaths and Marriages. In the past, it was difficult to make the fifty or so kilometre trip to the city, so children from the same family were sometimes registered in bulk lots, on the day of their brother or sister's birth day.That was also the case in Fawaz's family. Aziz used to say that Fawaz was born on the twenty third of November and Bahija would argue that he was born on the thirteenth but I leant on the side of Aziz, because his second eldest son Manhal, also had the thirteenth of November as his birth date. At least his year of birth was correct.

Hama is Syrias fourth largest city on the banks of the Orontes river and its citadel and its ancient waterwheels(norias) are its two most famous features. It has 17 norias dating back to the Byzantine times. They can go up to 20 metres in diameter. Hama has long been a crossroads between the Mediterranean and the East and has a history that dates back to 2,000 BC.

In the north, near the centre of the city of Hama you can find Citadel Hill. A park is situated at the summit and it is a popular area for locals and tourists alike, especially on warm summer evenings. Citadel Hill dates back to the11th century BC, when Hama was the centre of the Aramean kingdom of Hamath and evidence unearthed dates back to the Neolithic period. Whenever we visited Hama the children loved to play on the slides, swings and monkey bars and picnic on the summit. It was a steep and winding path to traverse before we reached the top, where the view of Hama was magnificent, as it was a most stunning city with great beauty.

The Christian population had their own quarters in the city which was close to Citadel Hill. The children and I would enjoy eating the delicious sweets that the smaller cake shops offered. Yasmin's favourite was halawat al-jibne which was a sweet cheese pastry and a speciality of the city. We used to visit Hama on special occassions such as Easter to buy chocolate Easter eggs, which were extremely difficult to find even in Hama but I made sure the children never missed out on any of the special treats and celebrations that I grew up with. I used to make their party hats by drawing characters from their golden books and colouring them in.

There was only one occasion that I felt prejudice against me in Syria and that was at a market in Hama when an old lady dressed in black was shouting at me because my long blonde hair was not hidden with a scarf. She was absolutely crazy with anger and Fawaz was nowhere to be seen as he was ahead of me at the souk. Eventually he heard the raucous she was causing and came to my aid. I couldn't understand what she was saying but I know he told her off and she carried on muttering to herself until she was out of view. Fawaz explained to me that she wasn't normal and not to take offence.

I used to dabble in numerology and had brought books from Australia on the subject to study. Sometimes when I would ask an older member of the community his or her birth date they were not one hundred percent sure of the exact day but could remember which season of the year they were born. For example, one man told me he was born just after the summer wheat harvest and another just before the winter rains. I enjoyed practising from David Phillip's book with Fawaz as my interpreter.

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