The Agricultural Fair in Abadiyeh — A Popular National Festival Lasting Three Days

In Society

Abadiyeh, that quiet village on the slope of the Metn mountains, was on the seventh of September dressed in its finest attire, vaunting before all its neighbors its message, in its agricultural fair.

Abadiyeh's message to Lebanon is the idea of cooperation, which for twenty years it has been preaching with success. Today there are in Lebanon some sixty cooperative societies.

This fair, which the Agricultural Cooperative Society of Abadiyeh holds every year or two, is a review of what the society's members produce — fruit, vegetables, livestock, and handwork — and, in particular, a review of how they practice the cooperative life: the whole in the service of the individual, and the individual in the service of the whole.

The people of Abadiyeh gathered, headed by the sword-and-shield players, to welcome His Excellency the President of the Republic and his company: the Honorable Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, His Excellency the Minister of Public Works and the Minister of Agriculture, the president of the Municipal Council of Beirut, the commander of the gendarmerie, and the Honorable Sheikh Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah.

Hardly had His Excellency the President cut the ribbon, declaring the fair open, when a car advanced toward him decked with clusters of grapes, as though it were a vine heavy with its load. The Queen of Agriculture stepped down from the car, surrounded by a bouquet of Abadiyeh's beautiful girls, and presented His Excellency with an armful of lilies, which had its effect upon him.

His Excellency the President visited all the sections of the fair, asking and examining about everything he saw, accompanied by the society's president, the engineer Fouad Najjar, explaining as they went.

The Bounty of Abadiyeh: the name of the first section of the fair, where the finest kinds of

grapes, apples, and vegetables were displayed — Abadiyeh's foremost produce — followed by the pine tree and its manifold uses.

The Cooperative Section: the message of cooperation in pictures, figures, and models.

The Women's Pavilion: His Excellency the President and the public admired the handwork of the women of Abadiyeh, its variety, and the taste evident throughout its collection; and we asked, is there a market for these beautiful works? The truth, as Mrs. Anissa Najjar, who supervises this pavilion, told us, is that in our villages there is exquisite handwork that rivals that of any foreign villages, but it needs technical guidance, and a place in the city where it can be displayed and orders received.

The Livestock Pavilion: a display of the most beautiful — and 'most blessed' — kinds of cows and bulls.

On the roof of the fair's spacious building was a crowd of more than three thousand souls, and the neighboring balconies and rooftops were packed with spectators. The society's president, Mr. Fouad Najjar, opened the ceremony with a valuable speech on the benefits of cooperation and what he hopes it will bring, through its means, to Lebanon: unity in its ranks and a rise in its economy. Then the president of the Abadiyeh municipality, Mr. Jean Abou Jaoude, welcomed His Excellency the President on his first visit to Abadiyeh. Afterward the Nay troupe, under the direction of Mr. Sami Slaibi, presented for the first time the unified Lebanese dabkeh dance, over which the people of the villages grew greatly enthusiastic, applauding in admiration; it also won the approval of His Excellency the President and of Sheikh Abdullah al-Jaber, who stayed on watching its various steps for close to half an hour after the ceremony.

Then rang out the voice of the artist Wadih el-Safi, awakening in every soul a longing for the village and its people.

His Excellency the President wrote a gracious word in the society's booklet, which was read out to the crowd. And the open-handed generosity of Sheikh Abdullah al-Jaber al-Sabah was stirred: he presented the society with the sum of ten thousand Lebanese lira, as he did last year, in his capacity as honorary citizen of the village of Abadiyeh.

Everyone was invited to a traditional refreshment stand where Abadiyeh's delicious fruit was set out for the enjoyment of the public. Abadiyeh remained in festival for three days: the opening ceremony, then on the following day a zajal evening by the choir of Chahrour al-Wadi, and on the last day a cinema show and the distribution of prizes to those who had distinguished themselves at the fair. Fairs such as these bring cheer to the villages and restore their vitality — nor are they without material benefits.