International News
Church festival to share food, culture of Lebanon
By Pamela Marean - Standard-Times correspondent
Sep 4, 2008 - 6:34:19 AM

With potent incense, spiced foods, colorful costumes and music that entices you to twirl, the chance to explore the exotic culture of Lebanon is hard to resist — especially when it's coming to your own back yard.

One New Bedford family of Lebanese descent has been inspiring friends and relatives to renew the tradition of a Mahrajan, or Lebanese Food and Heritage Festival. They remember such celebrations from their childhoods, and will bring the traditions back to life for everyone to enjoy, noon to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Holy Ghost Grounds in Dartmouth.

Sarah Thomas and her sister Rachael Thomas Higgins are leading the charge in support of the Maronite-Catholic Our Lady of Purgatory Church in New Bedford, which their grandparents helped to establish in the early 1900s. Until about 15 years ago, the Mahrajan was an annual three-day event.

"All our parents and grandparents worked at it. The women would roll grape leaves, dance and cook. The men would play music, grill shish-kabob and toss horseshoes," Mrs. Thomas Higgins remembered.

The history of the Thomas family organizing this festival is the quintessential American immigrant story: An arranged marriage to a wealthy man was in the works for 17-year-old Kaffa Dumas while her heart belonged to penniless 20-year-old George Peters. So, in 1914, the lovers emigrated from their small mountain village of Ehmej in Lebanon to America where "they literally believed the streets were paved with gold," said the Peters' great-granddaughter, Leilah Moses.

Kaffa and George Peters went on to have 11 daughters. The daughters — including Norma Thomas, Sarah and Rachael's mom — became a force of nature that the Lebanese community in New Bedford generally referred to as "The Aunts," said Joe Barckett, a cousin who is working with Sarah and Rachael to organize Saturday's festival.

With so many descendents of "The Aunts" living in Greater New Bedford, the Lebanese Food and Heritage Festival will be as much an extended family reunion as it will a public cultural celebration. "We have 30 to 40 first cousins, and 40 to 42 second cousins," said Mrs. Thomas.

About 500 festival-goers are expected to join in. Of the tickets already sold ($10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and under) about half have gone to Lebanese family members, Mr. Barckett estimated. Only a limited number of tickets will be available at the door since those who are doing the cooking — "and it's all home cooked," emphasized Mr. Barckett — need to know how many people they are trying to feed. Expect delicious traditional dishes like tabouli, hummus, chicken and rice, baklava and mamool.

"It's a FOOD and Heritage Festival. Food comes first. It's all about food in the Lebanese culture," Mr. Barckett said.

Beth David, also of Lebanese descent and one of "the cousinry," as they call themselves, agrees with Mr. Barckett that food is a cultural focus. "In Lebanese families, they'll invite you in and feed you, then give you something to drink and feed you, and then they'll feed you again," she laughed. "One of the things about the Lebanese culture is that we're unbelievably hospitable people."

She added, "Anyone who has gone to a store to buy a container of tabouli or hummus because they love the stuff should come to the festival and taste it like it's supposed to be."

Along with the food, the festival will feature music, dancing, games, a raffle (with a Macintosh iBook and iPhone) and a traditional Maronite-Catholic worship service. New Bedford's Culture*Park will have a special tent set up to capture the oral histories of Lebanese immigrants for its "Dream Book" project.

"We want to gather spontaneous, first-hand accounts of the pursuit of the American dream and how that has or has not played out in the lives of Lebanese Americans," said Patricia Thomas, a Culture*Park co-founder.

Lebanese or not, come to the Mahrajan. Come hungry, come expecting a warm welcome and "come with your dancing shoes," Ms. David said. "We'll show you a good time."

For more information, call Mr. Barckett at (617) 803-4087 or email mahrajan2008@yahoo.com.