A bouquet of young girls and young men in their old folk costumes
The second week of last month was Emigrants' Week in Aley, arranged by the municipality of Aley in cooperation with the Cultural League and the Society for the Protection of Summering.
The week opened on Sunday evening, August 7, with a huge festival attended by His Excellency the President of the Republic, at which a splendid pageant was presented, carrying pictures from Lebanon's history, past and present. Several societies and schools took part in it, along with the scout troops of Aley, one of the popular folk musical troupes, and the army band. The opening celebration ended with a dinner given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in honor of the emigrants at the Piscine grounds in Aley.
On Monday, August 8, an art exhibition of painting, engraving, and sculpture was opened at the house of the Cultural League. On Thursday, August 11, athletic matches in soccer were played between the clubs al-Ikha' al-Riyadi, al-Safa, al-Nejmeh, and the Racing Club; the Racing Club team won a silver cup presented by the municipality of Aley. On Friday, August 12, a kermesse was held at the Hotel al-Bihar which was successful in the extreme. And the week was closed on Saturday evening, August 13, with a wonderful
The Baalbek castle scene at the festival
folk night prepared by the Cultural League in the hall of the Hotel Saint James, at which the poet Adib al-Haddad presented dramatic sketches of society.
The Woman's Voice appreciates the commendable efforts exerted by the municipality of Aley, in the person of its president Mr. Najib al-Faqih and the municipal council, and the great contribution offered by the Cultural League and the Society for the Protection of Summering for the sake of publicity for Lebanon.
• The Golden Jubilee Congress of the International Women's Union was held in Ceylon on the seventeenth of last August. Mrs. Wadia Khartabil, president of the Palestinian Women's Union, traveled from Beirut to attend this congress and to set forth the refugees' question at full length. A large number of family and friends saw Mrs. Khartabil off at the international airport, wishing her success in the delicate national mission she has been delegated to defend and to lay before world public opinion.
Besides Mrs. Khartabil, this congress was attended by women delegates from all the countries of the world, among them representatives of the Egyptian, Syrian, Iraqi, and Jordanian Women's Unions. May the word of the Arab women delegates unite, then, in taking up the defense of the refugees' question, which has become the question of every zealous Arab woman.
• The Jbeili Hotel in Aley witnessed, on Thursday, August 25 last, a great gathering of women. The League of Women's Organizations in Lebanon, together with the General Arab Women's Union — and all the working women's associations these two institutions embrace, in the various fields of social work, culture, and health — issued invitations to a get-acquainted party with the delegations of emigrant women at present in Lebanon on the occasion of the Summer of the Emigrants, in order to set forth the most important works being undertaken by the women of this country. We may say that the party proved, in its aim and its results, most happily successful... We congratulate our ladies on the idea...