Osbo'o ceremony for the first newborn in the Refaat Alareer camp

Original Social Media Post

"“Osbo’o” meaning week in Arabic is what we call the celebration of a newborn baby in Palestine. Aysal is the first newborn in the Refaat Alareer camp who was born in late November and we celebrated her arrival a week after she was born. We also celebrated Yazan and Maya’s birthday (twins in camp). The first thing we do in the osbo’o is bath the baby and put them on a decorated “ghorbal” (tray). The mother then wears a traditional dress and has to do 7 turns carrying the baby and saying “bismillah” (in God’s name). Meanwhile, another woman repeats phrases like: listen to your mom, listen to your dad, listen to your grandmother, etc. Typically the kids chase the mother and newborn with long candles and sing songs to welcome the baby. Kids are given bags of sweets and plates of “sumai’a” are given out to everyone. The baby and mother are given gold or cash by close friends and family. We tried in Refaat Alareer camp to celebrate the arrival of little Aysal with the sound of bombing in the background, and all we can do is keep fighting for Aysal to grow in a free 🍉." - Source

Tags

• Hope
• Living conditions
• Children
• Palestinian art & culture