The 11th Dilbeh Mashta El-Helou Festival Launched

The activities of the 11th Dilbeh Mashta El-Helou Festival for Culture and Arts, entitled “Echo of Berries and Silk”, were launched today.

The activities of the festival, which will continue until next Saturday, include cultural, musical and plastic art activities, with a display of natural silk products and a live show of silkworms, in addition to sports activities hosted by Mashta El-Helou and Al-Dilbeh squares and the Silk Factory.

The people of Al-Mashta remember the days of the silk factory, when mulberry trees were spread throughout the lands of Al-Mashta. The status of the silk industry is still encarved deep in the memory of the people of Al-Mashta through the sound of the factory’s bell, director of the festival Wael Sabbagh said. He indicating that the people in Al-Mashta are gathering today in the square of Al-Mashta in order to commemorate their grandfathers and grandmothers’ profession of raising silkworms, which they used to raise in their homes that are made of stones, wood of oaks and berries.

“Today, we recall silk, which symbolizes a long history and has a great importance that grandparents passed on to their children,” he added.

The first day includes a display of natural silk products, in addition to a 24-hour film about the Syrian silk journey, in Al-Dilbeh Square, and a live show of silkworm breeding, in cooperation with the Directorate of Intangible Heritage at the Ministry of Culture.

The first day activities also include a workshop with the artist Sarah Shamma, in which the visual team in Mashta al-Helou participates, and an oil painting forum with a group of plastic artists.

The activities of the first day will end with a musical evening entitled “The Silk Road”, which will be performed by the “Al-Hujra” Choir, led by Maestro Misak Baghboudrian.