Al-Dalieh: Charming Beauty Created by Nature
Being an attractive tourist resort, al-Dalieh village in Lattakia has witnessed remarkable tourist movement as a large number of people, mostly from the Syrian coastal area, visit it both in summer and winter to enjoy its beautiful nature.
Al-Dalieh, which is about 65 km away from Lattakia and about 800-1150m above the sea level, has got distinguished tourist and archaeological attractions enabling it in the future to be “a city hewn in the rock”. During the French occupation of Syria, the area was used by Syrian revolutionaries as a burial site and as a hiding place so as to fight the occupation soldiers.
At the heart of the village, there is a large yard called “Sheikh Abdullah yard”, which dates back to more than 400 years. Villagers and their visitors from other villages used to gather in the yard to celebrate social festivities and national occasions like the Evacuation Day in April 17th of every year. This feast is called by people of the Syrian coast as “al-Rabee’”.
Al-Dalieh is one of the Syrian coast villages which have so far maintained some traditional crafts as a means for living.
The “oven bread” baking profession, is among the naturally created jobs in the village. It is the grandparents’ profession. Women, in particular, have contributed significantly to preserving the oven bread industry and to transferring it from one generation to another. In the past, most skillful girls in bread baking, were the luckiest and the soonest to marry.
The straw industry is also among the famous folk household crafts in the village. It is often practiced by housewives during their leisure time and is considered as a source of living for the people of the area. One can rarely find a woman who doesn’t master this craft in the village.
Amal Farhat