Bedouins Today

Bedouins traditionally were known for their hospitality, tribal life and their set of habits and customs. Nowadays, and though time has changed and has changed a lot of bedouins with it, Bedouin families are still trying to keep some of their customs and ways. For example, bedouin families still try to live near each other, to be there for each other no matter what and this is something felt in the bedouin communities. In West Bekaa, Families from the same tribe "Abou Eid" are scattered all over. there's the "Askar" family in Dakwi and some of the "Sultan" Family in Jeb Jennine... And both have different ways of lives (One is more open and involved in its surrounding then the other, one is more attached to its roots then the other...) but still share few of their old ways of living (for example the design of their homes and living rooms, raising cattle, making a "mansaf" for strangers to eat, trying to be as hopsitable as they can be and their costumes).

Bedouins Court

How to solve problems in Bedouin culture: 1- Conflict 2- Shiekh tries to resolve it if he fails 3- Men of the tribe gather trying to solve it if they fail 4-Bedouin Judge The bedouin judge's decision is conclusive, and have an impressive way to prove who is lying. One method is in the video which was taped on March,2009

*Some said that if they need to, they might go to court to resolve their issues but they insist that this is the final resort where there is no other way

Bedouins with "ENVOY"

When the project was given about the bedouins, I expected tents, sheep every where, hot coffee, women dressed in "Abayet", men in " Galabiya".... but i was surprised, the tribe now have Villas, the sheep are not next to their homes, they are in their lands where they can graze, and what was the most impressive are the cars that they own (Envoy...etc) and motorcycles (we saw 4 parked next to one home). One of the discussion topics with some of the tribe women was fashion and how to stay a la mode. The only Galabiya we saw was the one the sheikh was wearing, and the Abayie we saw was tried out by Blanche and Catherine. I think if they did not say that they are bedouins i would have never guessed. They are proud to be bedouins, but they are "as much Lebanese as we are". I think the only thing they have retained from their culture is the "Bedouin hospitality" and their "coffee". During our visit Mansaf was offered, coffee and tea were served. It is important to mention that they wanted us to dress as bedouins, drink coffee, eat mansaf, write that bedouin children are going to schools, show us that they are one family and one unit....but they were reluctant to discuss their assests with us(land, money, income, kattle...)

14/03/2009

On the second visit to arab abou 3eid, we came in with general questions, which we prepared in advance, and were answered by "Rima Sultan". Rima is actually the daughter of the previous Shiekh and now is the sister of the Shiekh, which is a big deal since that was the way she identified her self and is identified by others. We then explained that we will be looking at the timeline of their tribe and what is the date that actually shows the shift in their life, and we want to compare how they lived before and and how they are living now.

First Visit - 07/03/09

Our original search for a bedouin tribe in West Bekaa was in Mansoura. Unfortunately, we did not find what we were looking for. Our informant, who is a citizen of Jeb Jennine, directed us to "Arab Abou Eid" bedouin tribe. We first met with Shiekh Khaled Sultan, who was very cooperative and helpful, and proposed to come back the next week-end when all the tribe members are present. Amani, Blanche and Catherine