West Virginia Maronites Preserving Meals, Religion And Future, Just before It’s Far too Late

All over Appalachia, several communities share a prevalent concern: As the youthful folks depart and the older generations pass on, who will have on the traditions?

But in Wheeling, West Virginia, 1 young person, Dalton Haas, is established to reverse this pattern. He’s dedicated to bringing his community property, to the seem of church bells and the smells of do-it-yourself cooking.

It was the annual church fundraiser and volunteers collected in the basement kitchen, serving foods and sharing fellowship. The volunteers were being mostly gals , but along with them was Haas, dressed in a black t-shirt with a tree printed on it: a cedar of Lebanon.

Clara Haizlett/ WVPB

Haas is 25 and with his darkish hair and youthful deal with, he looked out of area. But he suggests he’s recognized the women for a even though. “I’ve been watching them cook and bake in this church my full daily life,” Haas explained.

Haas is a member of Our Woman of Lebanon, the only Maronite church in West Virginia. Maronites are Catholics who adhere to an Jap branch originating in what is now Lebanon and Syria.

In pieces of their mass, Maronites nevertheless use Aramaic – the language of Jesus.

Clara Haizlett/ WVPB

Maronite immigrants came to West Virginia all around the switch of the 19th century, in search of financial possibility and refuge from religious persecution in Lebanon. With them, they brought rich traditions of food items, faith and local community.

There had been at the time over 300 Maronites in Wheeling. But today, the congregation is little and the vast majority is elderly. More mature generations have handed on and the young individuals have moved away.

“I’m the one particular that stayed, the lone wolf that stayed,” Haas claimed.

Haas’s family moved to Wheeling from Lebanon in the early 1900s. When he was 8, he began serving on the altar at Our Woman of Lebanon. These days he’s a single of the handful of servers continue to remaining.

But Haas explained that for him, it was unique. Throughout his preteen yrs, he fell in enjoy with the traditions of his church and the lifestyle of his ancestors. He started to understand Arabic and practice Lebanese dance.

Photograph courtesy of a member of Our Girl of Lebanon

About that time, he commenced cooking. Haas claims food performs an vital element in Maronite faith.

“We set a cross in our dough since we imagine that is the only way it’s likely to rise, is if it is blessed with a cross,” he claimed.

Haas uncovered to cook dinner from the girls of the church. They would get ready foods for bake profits, church dinners and the once-a-year competition fundraiser. Dalton uncovered how to make “kibbeh” from Linda Fadul Duffy, 1 of the principal volunteers for food functions.

Kibbeh is Lebanon’s national dish. It’s created with ground meat, onions, spices, and bulgar wheat, all combined with each other and topped with pine nuts.

Duffy’s relatives utilised to very own a Lebanese Bakery in Wheeling. Her mother, Rose Fadul, was born in Lebanon. She opened the bakery in the late 1950s. They served dishes like hummus, stuffed grape leaves and tabboli.

Chuck Kleine/ WVPB

“It was in enterprise for in excess of 50 a long time, and it was pretty, pretty well-liked,” Duffy mentioned.

The bakery shut its doors in 2017 — a lot to the disappointment of the community, Duffy claims, oth Lebanese and non-Lebanese alike.

“Everytime I go someplace, men and women say, ‘I skip the bakery, I miss out on the bakery,” she claimed. “And I suggests, ‘Well we all do.’”

Duffy even now routinely cooks for church events at Our Woman of Lebanon. But she worries upcoming generations won’t be equipped to carry on traditions of foodstuff in their community.

“I feel Dalton’s the only one particular,” she mentioned. “Because we don’t have as well lots of youthful men and women in our parish.”

With the bakery closed and the congregation shrinking, Haas felt compelled to reverse the cultural loss in his local community. That’s why he plans to open a Lebanese restaurant and bakery in downtown Wheeling. He states it will be more than just a restaurant, it will be a cultural practical experience.

Chuck Kleine/ WVPB

“When you walk into the restaurant, you are heading to imagine you happen to be in downtown Beirut,” he stated.

The cafe will have stay new music, stomach dancers on the weekends and serve genuine platters of Lebanese food items, Haas claimed.

Monsignor Bakhos, the pastor at the church, suggests he’s thankful more youthful generations are preserving these traditions.

“Some younger generations, they select up from their mothers and grandmothers,” he reported. “We are pushing as substantially as we can.”

Bakhos suggests the church in Wheeling is exceptional. It is been above 20 many years considering that he to start with arrived from Lebanon to lead the congregation, and he’s gotten to know the men and women effectively.

Bakhos discussed that numerous in the church come to feel a pull back to their tradition, again to the religion and back again to the meals.

“They have what I contact nostalgia,” Bakhos mentioned. “They have nostalgia to their childhood with their grandmas and grandpas.”

He suggests even while most in the congregation have overlooked the Arabic language, they’ve held on to a number of text — words and phrases like kibbeh, tabouli and hummus. They know the names of the food stuff.

“I noticed that the change in this group in this article in comparison with other communities in the U.S., is that this local community has roots,” Bakhos explained.

This local community does have roots – in the mountains of Lebanon and the hills of West Virginia. And Haas suggests he’s fully commited to bringing his community back to these roots…before it’s much too late.

“In 10 several years, who’s heading to do all the cooking? Dalton and monsignor? Dalton and a single of the females who is continue to right here? It can not be,” Haas said. “It’s not possible.”

By presenting a lot more functions for Maronite young ones, Haas hopes that more small children will get associated with the church. They are trying to carry again Arabic courses, dance and cooking classes.

In the meantime, Haas is preparing to open a Lebanese meals truck in Wheeling, even though he continues to research for a long-lasting property for the cafe.

This story is element of the Within Appalachia Folkways Reporting Venture, a partnership with West Virginia Community Broadcasting’s Within Appalachia and the Folklife Application of the West Virginia Humanities Council. The Folkways Reporting Project is produced doable in element with aid from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia General public Broadcasting Basis. Subscribe to the podcast to hear a lot more tales of Appalachian folklife, arts, and society.