3th Aramo Folkloric Festival reviving traditions

With official and popular attendance, the activities of Aramo Folkloric Festival in its third session, which lasted for three days, included various heritage activities, folkloric songs, zajal poems by local poets, and a diverse exhibition of traditional handicrafts and local products.

Aramo Festival is considered a  bridge between generations, linking the new generations to the heritage of their ancestors, particularly in light of technological development and technology impacting new generations, which impedes the extinction of customs and traditions.

The director of Aramo Festival, Haidar Naiesa, pointed out that this Festival is an embodiment of inherited folklore and cultural heritage encouraging communication between generations. He explained that the festival includes activities, like “Help Day” event. The second day will also include a number of popular games promotinggroupspirit, such as tug-of-war and weightlifting.

The race and games embody self-esteem endorsing pride in country and identity, especially that each team represents one of the 22 participating villages.In addition, the festival includes assorted heritage exhibitions; and folkloric, traditional and artistic activities accompanied by toriental musical instruments such as the Oud, Buzuq, Nay, Rababa and others.

For his part, Director of Tourism Yasser Douai pointed out that Aramo Festival aims to highlight areas that enjoyed tourist attractions; in addition to cultural and religious heritage, which are part of the mechanism of attraction and tourism promotion.

Some of the festival’s activities were marked by the participation of Ibrahim Skaif, son of Sharifa village, with some products and handicrafts made of reeds, such as baskets, dishes and other household tools.

Hassan Halabi,sculptor and member of Lattakia Artists Syndicate, said: “Today, I participated for the first time in the Aramo Festival with 5 artistic works.” He added “we hope that this cultural atmosphere will spread to the entire mountain villages so that artists will get inspired by nature beauty”.Halabi sees that such festivals create a dialectical relationship between artists and audience;creating an opportunity to be in direct contact with the addressees to interconnect.

Lama Razzouk