IJASOS- International E-journal of Advances in Social Sciences

Abstract

The vernacular houses have
sustained our traditional habits and customs which were related to the way
dwellers lived and adapted to the interior space of these houses. Although they
share most of the essential characteristics, each house had its unique approach
to details: location, orientation, kind of stones and woods, among many other
basics used in the interior. These houses were built for a purpose, with the
determination to create a shelter, to provide privacy and to establish a heaven
within those thick walls ‘kallin’; securing against danger, disaster and
malicious attacks.

In a gesture of written
preservation to manuscript some types of old traditional houses still existing
in the country side, namely in Achkout; my village in the heart of Keserwan,
overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in Lebanon, I will document the few
still-existing custom habits and household folkloric patterns and record old
and bygone stories and rituals that are still in the memory of the very few
elderlies who are still alive, in a sincere effort, I try to preserve Achkout’s
identity and to create awareness legacy; to help in protecting my village
identity and to resuscitate in the hearts and minds, the curiosity and mystery
of the old folkloric spaces of the ‘once upon a time’ era.

Needless to say, that
after these transformations, the vernacular house is on the verge of losing all
relations with the old heritage and traditional ways of construction; masonry
work that undertook abundant group work; voluntary craftsmanship of helping
hands; “aouneh”, to finish, is nowadays fading away.

The “aouneh”, free
exchanging aid between the villagers, that was the ritual way of living which
established the profound bonding between the house, its dwellers and the rest
of the village inhabitants. These architectural customs are being communicated
now as mere competitive forms of complicated commercial entities built on
random sites, spread along the country side, where the concept of “aouneh”
ceases to exist.

Concerning the folkloric
structure in building and accessorizing, not one single house was similar to
the other, even in the generals, such as tools and partitions; “outa-a ou
aata-a”. Each detail in every house was directly related to the dwellers
who characterized, personalized, and occupied the interior space to fulfil
their necessities and daily needs.

The unrestrained diffusion between the past and the
present, the divergence and the intermixing between conventional customs and the
old ethnic performances related to the folkloric masonry of interior spaces,
could coexist.