Christmas in Maghdouche

The newly established children "Choir of Glory" has performed a Christmas concert in Maghdouche church, the evening of the 23rd of December 2010. In this little video, Maghdouche children are performing a traditional melkite bizantine Christmas song.

Christmas Fair !

"Dignity" has just participated in a 4 day Christmas fair organized by the sisterhood of Our Lady of Mantara - Maghdouche " Akhawiyyet Saydet el Mantara. The friends of "Dignity" exhibited different kinds of embroideries and needlework as well as many other different products including the Brain Warmers.

The visitors of the fair appreciated the beautiful products, the high quality of the materials and the elegant finishing...

It is to be mentioned that this was the first fair in Lebanon in which "Dignity" has participated, on the hope that this would be the start of many participations to come.

Well done girls !!!

Have a Maghdouche Chritmas !

Meghli - Maghli - Lebanese Rice Pudding

Meghli is a lebanese sweet dish that I love so much. It is usually served at Christmas time when one gets visitors and every time a child is born.

Ingredients:
8 glasses of water
1 glass ground rice (powder)
1 tea spoon ground cinnammon
1 tea spoon powdered anise seeds
3 tea spoon powdered caraway seeds
1/2 tea spoon nutmeg (jawzet ettib)
1 and 1/2 to 2 glasses sugar

Preparation:

1) Mix all ingredients in the water and stear

2) put the casserol on the fire, stear continuously until you bring the mixture to a boil.

3) Reduce the heat to low and stear from time to time, for at least one hour.

P.S.: The secret of "Meghli" is this combination of low heat and one hour boiling. This will keep the porridge creamy without loosing the water once it is refrigerated. This is very Important.

The final result should look like this: the mixture coats the outside of the spoon

Transfer the porridge into small bowls and let it cool down before you refrigerate.

Decorate with coconut and then add pine seeds , walnuts, pistachios and peeled almond preferably soaked in water for some hours.

Bon appetit.

A Different Christmas 2008 - En annerledes jul

All over the world, Christmas is Christmas, but sometimes the little detail makes the difference. Here are some shots of a different Christmas in Maghdouche.
På norsk
Over hele verden er jul- jul, men noen ganger er det "den lille forskjellen" som gjør det annerledes.
Her kommer noen fotoer fra Maghdouche jul


A dry branch can be a perfect christmas tree
En tørr grein kan bli et perfekt juletre.....


and every plant in the house !
og alle planter i huset !


Chickpeas, lentils and wheat planted in small trays to be used as christmas ornaments for the nativity scenes.
kikerter, linser og hvetekorn lagt på papirservietter og vannet i små skåler blir brukt som juledekorasjon i julekrybben. En spire til nytt liv......


Marwan and Georgette preparing the nativity scene in the local church.
Marwan og Georgette forbereder julekrybben i kirken i Maghdouche.


Uuuuh, anything is missing ? No, Jesus will be added at midnight.
ÅÅÅÅÅÅ, mangler det noe, neida, Jesus settes i julekrybben ved midnatt i midnattsmessen.


Which nativity scene is the best in the village? yours for sure !
Hvilken julekrybbe var den beste i landsbyen, din selvfølgelig!!!!


Christmas rolls "buches de Noel" before decoration.
Julekaker er også tradisjon og i Libanon er det RULLEKAKE også kjent som "Swiss roll". Og her er den før dekoreringen.


Christmas rolls after decoration.
Og slik ble den etter dekoreringen


Santas getting ready.
Julenissen gjør seg klar

Ryan's first Christmas !
Ryans første jul


A little prayer and a little hymn in front of the nativity scene before the Christmas dinner.
En liten bønn og en liten salme foran julekrybben før julemiddagen.

Christmas Concert in Maghdouche

Sunday, the 21st. of December at 6:00 in the evening, the bells of Maghdouche church will be ringing loud. The reason is the Christmas concert that became a tradition in the yearly preparation for Maghdouche Christmas.

Arround 40 young people from Maghdouche and its surrounding villages, who form the Savior's Choir, will be singing traditional oriental as well as modern Christmas songs, in arabic, french and english.

By curiosity, we entered the church last December, but with peace and deep Christmas spirit, we left. To listen to these young voices was such a wonderful experience.