VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE:
CHANGES IN THE TRADITION FOLKLORIC FORMS AND NARRATIONS
IN OLD LEBANESE HOUSES

Graziella P. Daghfal Choughari
Assist. Professor, Notre Dame University-Louaize, Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon, daghfal@ndu.edu.lb

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. 

Keywords: Household, folklore, forms, patterns, tools, tradition, customs, dwellers, masonry, construction, interior, vernacular, coexist