Bikfaya
Bikfaya
بكفيا | |
---|---|
Town | |
UTC+3 (EEST) | |
Dialing code | +961 |
Bikfaya (
Culture
La Fête des Fleurs à Beckfayya or the Festival of Flowers has attracted tourists since 1934 when Maurice Gemayel started the festival to attract attention to the mountainous town. Each year, a variety of vehicles decorated with thousands of colorful flowers and fruits parade through Bikfaya's tree-lined main street. Live music bands, bazaars, and the election of three beauty queens: the Queen of Flowers, the Queen of Fruits and the Queen of Sports, are held in the public squares and gardens.[2]
Demography
Bikfaya is home to 20,000 Lebanese who are followers of the
Etymology
The name Bikfaya is a contraction of the Aramaic (Syriac) compound phrase "Beit Keifayya", בית כיפיא, with "Keifayya" being the relative adjective of the word כיפא, meaning "rock" or "stone" in Aramaic. And so, Bikfaya would mean the "house of stone" or "the rocky/stony house" with the semantic connotation of "the place, location of stones, or stone quarry."[5]
Geography
Bikfaya is nestled in the mountains overlooking the
The Greater Bikfaya consists of the towns of Bikfaya بكفيا, Mhaydseh المحيدثة, Sakiyat al Mesek ساقية المسك, Bhersaf بحرصاف, Aïn el Kharroubé عين الخرّوبة and Al Aayroun العيرون.
History
The name of the town comes from Phoenician origin (Beit Kfeya) the stone house – that is consecrated to worship the God "Kifa".[citation needed]
Church historian, the German historian Roehinger, proved that the Christian peoples — later known as al-Marada — have lived in this area and built BasKinta, Bikfaya, and Bhersaf starting around the year 679, a short time before building Ehden in north Lebanon. Historians[who?] mention as well that Bikfaya and Bhersaf were the headquarters of the Maronite Emirs and Bishops starting from the 7th Century AD and the most distinguished of these was Emir Semaan who resided in Bhersaf in the 11th century.
The residents of the old Keserwan (which included at the time the Metn area and its surroundings) supported the Crusaders who remained in Lebanon from 1099 to 1291.
When the Crusaders withdrew from their last strongholds, the Mamlukes led their
In retaliation, the Mamluk gathered an army of fifty thousand warriors and
Bikfaya during the era of the Assafiyeen Emirs
Feudalism in the Mamluk era was granted by the sultan in return for military services provided by individuals to the state.
The Mamluk granted the Turkuman (known as Assafiyeen) control over the north (Lubnan Fi al-Tarikh- Dr Philip Hitty- Dar al –Thakafa- Beirut, 1959)[clarification needed] with the mission to safeguard the shoreline against intrusion by occidentals and early natives. The Assafiyeen inhabited areas they called after their notables and then moved to Ghazir.
During the era of prince Mansour al-Assafy, with security spreading in the Kesrwan area, some members of the Bikfaya families—who had survived in 1305—started to return to their hometown in 1540 (Sheikh Edmond Bleybel) such as the Gemayels who came from Jaj in 1545 and were delegated control over Bikfaya and its northern suburbs.
In 1587 father Antoun Gemayel sought to build a church in Bikfaya, so he donated one thousand Kobrosy to this cause.[citation needed] However, this sum was not enough and the number of inhabitants of Bikfaya was little, so father Antoun resorted to his brother-in-law and nephew for help and unified the efforts of the two towns and implemented his project next to an old oak tree. The tree is estimated to be around 1000 years old, and its trunk is still visible.
Antoun set in the south-eastern side of the church an altar in the name of Mar Abda for the Maronites and another in the north-eastern side in the name of Our Lady for the Greek Orthodox (Bleybel).
Dweihy says in his book: the history of the Maronites page 181 :…and in the year 1587 (996H) father Antoun of Gemayel family built the church of Mar Abda in the village of Bikfaya and had it illustrated by Elias al-Hasrouny. He spent on it 1000 Kobrosy in addition to donations by the residents of Bikfaya and other philanthropists… then Patriarch Sarkis followed in the steps of his predecessors and raised father Antoun to Archbishop as a reward for his efforts.
Historians believe that Bikfaya was the consecrated shrine of the Phoenician deity Baal.[7] It was also the capital of the Christian Cancimat of Lebanon (1840–1860).[clarification needed]
Towards the end of March 1986, following the rejection by the
Religious Structures
- Mar Abda Church, built in 1587[9]
- Jesuit Convent, built in 1833[9]
- Saint Elias Chwayya Monastery, a Maronite and Greek Orthodox complex with a church, built in 1590[9]
- Armenian seminary and summer retreat of the Catholicos of Cilicia[10]
- Our Lady of Deliverance
- Mar Mkheyel (Saint Michael) Church
- Step 1, 2 and 3 Devotional Running Segments
Tourism
Many restaurants, especially ones specializing in
- Saj Hannoun (Atyab Manakish)
References
- ^ "Info about Bikfaya".
- ^ "Bickfaya.com". Archived from the original on 2007-03-02. Retrieved 2007-03-07.
- ^ BBC NEWS | Middle East | The divided loyalties of Lebanon
- ^ "Gemayel family | Pierre, Bashir, & Amin".
- ^ a b Bikfaya[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b "Bikfaya". Archived from the original on 2007-04-19. Retrieved 2007-03-07.
- ^ Bikfaya Archived 2007-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Middle East International No 272, 4 April 1986, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; G.H. Jansen p.6
- ^ a b c d Tourism @ Lebanon.com
- ^ "Armenian Seminary at Bikfaya, official site". Archived from the original on 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2009-06-20.
- ^ Locanda corsini
External links
- Bikfaya - Mhaiydseh Archived 2016-10-09 at the Wayback Machine, Localiban