Lettuce Festival

Artas, a small and beautiful Palestinian village in the West Bank near Bethlehem filled with tradition and a rich cultural heritage, holds an annual event called the Artas Lettuce Festival. During this event, locals and internationals walk from Solomon’s Pools to the village of Artas where they find a folklore center, spring, village mosque, and convent. Before, during, and in Artas they experience Palestinian identity and heritage through dancing, music, poetry, and singing. I was fortunate enough to share in these living traditions. Before and during the opening ceremony, I witnessed the Women's Choir of the Arab Educational Institute-Open Windows, Bethlehem singing Palestinian favorites and “Blowing in the Wind” for the Internationals; dabke dancing by young members of the Artas Folklore Center's Ahya Al Turath Troupe; poetry recitals by the poet Mosa Hetawi from Ru'iya; and Khalil Qaraqa, a musician from nearby Dehaisheh refugee camp playing the ney, oud, and Palestinian bagpipes.

Along the “folklore way,” we were serenaded by men singing Palestinian folk songs, sampled Ishraq bread, drank coffee from an Ibriq, and watched informal Palestinian dances. At the end, we regrouped in Artas at the Soler Park, belonging to the Sisters of the Hortus Conclusus, to hear the members of Ru'iya or Vision from Abu Dis perform theatrical sketches describing Palestinians’ attachment to their land and heritage.

Khalil Qaraqa playing Palestinian bagpipes