Syrian heritage lover exhibits his own collection of old rural items to recall folk heritage
Cultural memory is the link between past, present and future . It is formed by symbolic heritage collections embodied in texts, rites, monuments , celebrations and traditional objects.
Within the framework of recalling the memories of fathers and grandfathers and the rural life at that time with its simplicity, spontaneity and the most accurate details, sixty-year old Ismail Mahmoud, who is from the town of Dalya, in the countryside of Jableh in Lattakia, has collected various old and diverse heritage items since his childhood to be displayed in his town .
Dozens of wooden, stone and pottery tools and equipment are displayed at what Mr. Mahmoud called “the Folk Heritage Exhibition”, whose walls resemble the walls of traditional old mud houses with the wooden “column” in the middle which is topped by a beacon.
Mahmoud explained to SANA that the traditional pieces at the exhibition include tools for domestic use, such as the wooden old baby bed, , the dough bowl, the wooden chair , big straw dishes, which are used to provide meat, offerings, millstones, bulgur wheat, and a special wooden stone pestle for the manufacture of figs, bowls for storing grains, lanterns and lamps.
He added that the exhibits also included other tools for agricultural purposes such as the yoke , the sickle for harvesting wheat , the pitchfork to separate the grain from the straw, the thrush, the straw, the spindle, and other wooden tools used in raising silkworms and distilling rose water.
“I have always been fascinated by the heritage pieces that used to decorate the house of my parents and relatives, and I am keen to acquire them when I know people’s desire to get rid of them because they no longer fit the designs of their modern homes,” according to Mahmoud.
He stressed that the aim of the exhibition, which he founded with his own individual efforts, is to highlight the authenticity of rural heritage and introduce the way of life of the ancestors and their tools and preserve them from extinction.
The sixty-year old man pointed out that “ it is our duty to be the link between our fathers, our children and our grandchildren, and to introduce to them this precious treasure so that generations can benefit from the ancestors’ experiences and be a beacon for them to face all challenges.
Mahmoud ’s hobbies were not limited to collecting heritage pieces, as he excelled in the field of drawing. The farmer’s life, simplicity and love for his land were a source of inspiration for many of his paintings, in addition to simulating the charming nature and its aesthetic elements which motivated his abilities and unleashed his imagination to embody them in artworks .
It is worth mentioning that Ismail Mahmoud Ali is interested in poetry , especially improvisational and Zajal. He has been a calligrapher and painter for five decades as he draws on paper, walls, and fabrics.
Rawaa Ghanam