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WOODEN
GIFTS
(from the original and authentic Cedars wood of Lebanon)
Man Ornaments
Of all the Arab areas within the Ottoman Empire , the inhabitants of the Lebanese mountain were alone authorized to have a firearm. And they were quite proud of this privilege.
Weapons were, from time immemorial, symbols of the Lebanese villagers’ specificity, virility and autonomy. In the event of an attack, the entire male population was mobilized, young people and adults, sheiks and peasants.
Each mountain dweller was supposed to have a rifle and ammunitions and be ready to carry his weapon and walk behind his chief. At the slightest warning, the village criers went up towards the heights and made their voices heard in the valley.
The villages of Mount Lebanon are built at distances so close that criers can easily call for help.
In case of danger, villages fired a conventional number of shots from a war weapon to call for help.
In times of peace, the peasant, who sometimes was to walk a long way out of his village to reach the fields, was to carry his weapon in shoulder-belt to protect himself from savage animals (bear, jackals, wolves), still numerous in Mount Lebanon .
In 186, Daoud Pasha creates the first Lebanese gendarmerie. The moutassarif and the magistrates, since then, had a police force to carry out justice and to maintain order.
Hence, mountain dwellers were no longer authorized to carry any weapon without preliminary authorization by the authorities. Irreducible and proud, these villagers would constantly ignore this prohibition.
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