العادات والتقاليد الأجتماعية في حمص ٦_a .. كتاب حمص

It is necessary to mention (the truffle), which grows in some seasons when there is rain, thunder and lightning in the first months of winter, especially in November. Mining for it begins in the month of February and its yield continues until the end of April. There are three forms: wrapped with meat, stuffed, or boiled. It is cut and pounded, garlic and oil are added to it, and it is served as an appetizer. Mustafa Zein al-Din said he describes it.

* How to eat and cook:

The food is served on one large plate, placed in a copper chest or in a straw dish, or it is sufficient to spread a piece of cloth and the eaters sit around it on the floor. If the food is liquid, spoons are used, otherwise the morsels are dipped by hand, supported by pieces of bread, and the bread is accompanied by all the food except sweets, and the mother was The poor woman advises her children to “addam,” that is, to reduce the amount of food and eat more bread in order to save money. They are also prohibited from eating (haaf), meaning eating food without bread!!!

As for cooking, it was done on the stove with firewood or a “jala” in it, and the rich used a “coal cooker” which was a cylindrical iron pot that divided it into two parts: an upper and a lower one with a perforated partition between them. The coals were placed in the upper section and the pot was placed on the stove, and it was less laborious than the stove. The worst type of firewood is mulberry firewood. That is why they said in their proverbs, “If you want your wife to die, she gives her mulberry firewood.” The best type of firewood is the red “balalaas” firewood, which was burned from a “matchstick,” and those who owned vineyards also used “al-jarzoun,” which are the sticks of the vine after “cleaning” it.

* Eating utensils :

The dining utensils were all made of copper (bleached) with a layer of tin, and the (bleaching) was renewed every year or less, depending on the consumption of the tin layer, at the time of bleaching. The daily cooking tool in normal circumstances was the pot, and it was of two types: the first had an opening narrower than its base, and the second had a hole wider than the base and it was called the Aleppo pot. It was larger than the “dest” pot, its opening was narrower than its base, and it had a ring on each side for it to be carried. It is larger than the pot or (hilla), and its opening is the same as its base. It is mostly used for boiling wheat before grinding it with bulgur and for cooking during major banquets. It was mentioned in the estate of Ahmad bin Ismail Farzat Mukhtar al-Rastan, who died (1319 AH = 1901 AD): two copper cups weighing five pounds and a copper plate (i.e., but ) It weighs five pounds, and two copper trays weigh half a pound. If the pound of chickpeas = (3) kg, then the weight of one (dost) is (7.5) kg, while the weight of the medicine alone is (15) kg of copper.

As for the plates, some of them are large and are called (Janq), which is a Turkish word, and some are small and ordinary, which are either deep or (faysha). It was not the custom for each eater to have a plate, as is the case now among most people. Rather, the guanca was placed in a straw dish or a copper chest, and the diners gathered around it, and the hands extended to it and took or dipped in it to eat the morsel with a piece of bread and a larger portion of water with a spoon (1 The spoon (kabja), which is a half-sphere with a long tail, is used to pour liquids from the pot to the plate. As for (Kafkir), it is a round piece of copper that has no depth and has a tail. It is perforated with holes that allow liquids to leak out of it, and what remains in it is what does not leak, such as chickpeas, beans, etc.

Excess cooking from dinner was placed on plates on the kitchen floor. Then it is covered with a “qafaa” and the rich people use a “namiliyah,” which is a wooden closet: the upper, front half of it is mounted with a soft tape that allows air to enter and prevents insects.

* Dress: A person’s life, from his birth until his death, revolves around three elements: shelter, food, and clothing. We have talked about shelter and food, and what remains is to talk about dress in the historical era, the subject of our research.

A - The newborn: The pregnant mother is concerned with preparing the home for her next child, whether female or male. Its structure is: a thin shirt that covers the newborn’s soft skin, then followed by a winter coat (the mentian), which is made of a thick, soft cotton fabric called the (flannel). Then a silk robe that reaches all the way to his feet, then a number of diapers made of rags. The lining or pieces of worn-out clothing to collect his excrement were called by them, and after that they came (the wrapper), in which the newborn was wrapped with his aforementioned clothes and then belted with a belt from his chest to his feet over the wrapper, and he did not come out of it except when his dirty cloth was changed and another clean one was placed in its place. The child remains in his wrap until the third month, then he is transferred to another stage, where he comes out of the wrap, his hands and feet become free, and they are replaced with (clothes) and a diaper. The home is compatible with the financial situation of the child’s family in terms of the abundance of clothing and the cost of fabrics.

B - The stage of childhood and going to the book: The child’s clothing was as follows: head wear: a hat or fez, and body clothing: a shirt with half sleeves or sleeves up to the wrists, then comes after it (the mitan) over the shirt, which is made of thick fabric without sleeves and longer than the shirt, open at the waist. The front, and each of its ends ends at the waist with a thin piece of cloth that is tied together one with the other in order to ensure warmth in the winter. Shentian is a long garment that reaches up to the ankles and is fastened to the waist with a “tikka” or “daka,” as they used to call it. It revolves around the onyx and is knotted at the back. Then comes all of that (qanbaz), which is a type of silk or cotton. It is cylindrical in shape, with an opening at the chest and around the neck for the head to enter. It has two long violins, and on each side of it is a long (pocket) that can accommodate a number of toys, including kilas and beads, and a number of (tosha), the most important of which is (the praise), which is a cylindrical piece of wood, turned and ending with a pointed head, for striking the opponent. ! ! ! As for the sling, it was tied around the waist after being wrapped around it several times, and the footwear was (babuj), red sarmaya, or (zarboula), which is a black or red leather shoe that has no heel and its front part is pointed. In the late nineteenth century, children wore (pyton) on their feet. The word is corrupted from the French (bottine), which is similar to (boots) and was buttoned in the middle at the front of the foot with loops in which metal buttons were inserted.

Until this stage, girls' and boys' clothes remain the same, and then they begin to differ at puberty.

C - Men's clothing: We start with the underwear: the shirt is made of thin white cotton fabric with a wide front to fit the head, and the cuffs are wide.