Aitanite/ Aitaneet (عيتنيت) is a village in Lebanon, in the West Beqaa region. Aitanit is located in the southern region of Lebanon, particularly the

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...

. Aitanit is also located about 1070 meters above sea level and is currently on the edge of a mountain. Below the mountain and the village is

Lake Quaroun Lake Qaraoun ( ar, بحيرة القرعون / ALA-LC: ''Buḥayrat al-Qara‘ūn'') is an artificial lake or reservoir located in the southern region of the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. It was created near Qaraoun village in 1959 by building a concret ...

( Litani river). In addition, the villages overlooks the village Qaraoun, which is just across the lake. The whole region around the village are farmlands and pastures filled with grape, olive trees, and many other fruit plants.

History

In 1838,

Eli Smith Eli Smith (born September 13, 1801, in Northford, Connecticut, to Eli and Polly (Whitney) Smith, and died January 11, 1857, in Beirut, Lebanon) was an American Protestant missionary and scholar. He graduated from Yale College in 1821 and from Andov ...

noted Aithenit '' as a village on the West side of the

, next to ''

Bab Mari'a Bab Mareaa ( ar, باب مارع), is a village located in the Western Beqaa District of the Beqaa Governorate in Lebanon. History In 1838, Eli Smith noted ''Bab Mari'a'' as a village on the West side of the Beqaa Valley, next to Aitanite A ...

''.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p
141
/ref> Aitanit has approximately 880 residents. In the municipal Lebanese elections of 2004, its accounted 3,263 registered voters of which 1,784 actual voters. If the total number of Aitanite citizens who have emigrated were included the figure would be nearer to 20,000. Aitanite is a popular summer destination for many Lebanese living abroad whose families originated from this area. Many former Aitaneet families live in Cleveland, Michigan,

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, and Montreal. Many people return in the summer to visit friends and family members. Currently, many of the townspeople are elderly or children because other locals reside in the capital region of Beirut, or elsewhere for job/business opportunities. Aitanit has two churches serving the village, one for the

Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...

s and the other is

Melkite The term Melkite (), also written Melchite, refers to various Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches of the Byzantine Rite and their members originating in the Middle East. The term comes from the common Central Semitic Semitic root, ro ...

Catholic. The village is predominantly Catholic but is surrounded by the neighboring Muslim town of

Machghara Machghara ( ar, مشغرة), also spelled Mashghara, is a town in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, situated in the Western Beqaa District and south of the Beqaa Governorate. It lies just to the northwest of Sohmor and southwest of Lake Qaraoun, south ...

and Christian villages of Bab Mareh, Saghbine, and Ain Zebde. Aitanit has one school taught by the nuns of the village. Aitanit is about (45 km) 45 minutes from Zahlé (Capital of the Bekaa valley region) and about an hour and thirty minutes from Beirut. In the winter, Aitanit experiences cool, wet, snowy conditions (about 10/50 degrees in the day and about 1/33 or 1/34 degrees in the night) but in the summer, it experiences hot dry conditions (30/86 to 37/99 in the day and about 20/68 to 28/82 in the night). Each year, Aitanit holds a festival called Eid Al Sayde. At the festival, you can experience food cooked by the women of the town, fireworks and loud dabke music. Dabke is a traditional Lebanese dance.

Climate

References

Bibliography

External links

Aaytanit
Localiban
aitanitmunicipality.com
for Photos and Details * https://web.archive.org/web/20110605235502/http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/a/b/o/David-J-Abood/BOOK-0001/0000-0001.html * http://assadaboodfoundation.org/index.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20120301192108/http://www.genealogy.com/genealogy/users/m/a/n/Jomana-F-Mansour/index.html {{Western Beqaa District Populated places in Western Beqaa District