The Damascene rose harvest celebrated in the village of Al-Marah with wide popular and official participation 

You can’t think of Syria without certain things popping in your head. One of those things that might come to mind in case you walked through the Syrian streets, houses and neighborhoods is a rose ..You might come across it in plant pots, on rooftops, porch edges, on the side of the streets and along the way to a Syrian village. That beautiful rose with pink, red and white colors is called the Damascene rose, a rose that reflects Syria’s beauty and represents the Syrians everywhere.

With social and folkloric rituals that embody the importance and value of the economic, therapeutic, cosmetic, and nutritional aspects of the Damascene rose, and with wide popular and official participation, the Damascene Rose Harvest Festival began today in the village of Al-Marah, in Damascus Countryside Governorate.

The festival forms a heritage depiction, including various types of the Damascene rose, which crossed the borders of Syria and carried its name all the way, after being crowned on the list of intangible human heritage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2019.

With joint efforts, this rose gained its importance due to its economic, aesthetic and therapeutic values, and it has become an important crop from which multiple products are extracted that are even requested by name from a wide segments of people whether they are Syrians or foreigners.

Damascene rose farmers were able, with the support of the Syrian Trust for Development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, and the Damascus Countryside Governorate, to overcome pests and agricultural problems that weaken the crop, and succeeded in reaching a qualitative product that can be exported, according to the head of the Al-Marah Association for the Revival and Development of Damascene Rose Madin Al-Bitar. He indicated that work is under way to expand its cultivation, develop its products and upgrade it to reach the position that befits its name.

Al-Bitar said in a statement to SANA News Agency that every four kilograms of green roses produce one kilogram of dry roses, while one kilogram of roses gives one liter of rose water, and we need to extract one gram of essential oil to about 12 kilograms of roses, which is the reason behind the increase of the price of one gram to about $70 globally.

Finally, the festival featured artistic, lyrical, and traditional dance performances that express the beauty and meaning of the rose to the Syrian people.

Leen Al-Salman