Heritage news
TableFrom the royal table to street food, Cambodian chefs reviving Khmer culinary heritageCarnivalMiami Carnival brings Caribbean pageantry, cultural celebration to Central Broward ParkHoly daysBallston Quarter Diwali Celebration: Date, Activities And DetailsSeasonsHarvest festivalCarnivalCelebration students on parade honoring Hispanic nationsCarnivalConnections, Culture Celebrated: Pasadena Latina Heritage Parade and Festival returns Oct. 10ArtsAnnual folk dance festival wraps up Mexico vacationFestivalsSheep, Basque culture, and 30 years of Idaho traditionHoly daysDiwali Celebration 2026Holy daysHTX Diwali Returns to POST Houston With a Free Festival of Lights CelebrationTableFrom the royal table to street food, Cambodian chefs reviving Khmer culinary heritageCarnivalMiami Carnival brings Caribbean pageantry, cultural celebration to Central Broward ParkHoly daysBallston Quarter Diwali Celebration: Date, Activities And DetailsSeasonsHarvest festivalCarnivalCelebration students on parade honoring Hispanic nationsCarnivalConnections, Culture Celebrated: Pasadena Latina Heritage Parade and Festival returns Oct. 10ArtsAnnual folk dance festival wraps up Mexico vacationFestivalsSheep, Basque culture, and 30 years of Idaho traditionHoly daysDiwali Celebration 2026Holy daysHTX Diwali Returns to POST Houston With a Free Festival of Lights Celebration
EveryParampara

Traditions of Baalbek

A Roman temple town in the Bekaa Valley, famed for its summer international festival and its sweets.

Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley, is home to some of the largest Roman temples in the world, built to Jupiter, Bacchus and Venus. In summer the temples are the stage for the Baalbeck International Festival. The town is also known for its sweets and for the traditions of the valley's farmers.

Baalbek: Temple of Bacchus of the Roman wine god Bacchus. located in Roman Heliopolis (current Baalbek, Lebanon).
Photo: Saadedine AL SAIDI, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Temples and festival

Since 1956 the ruins have been the setting for concerts of music from classical to Arabic song, with performers such as Fairuz. The valley around holds vineyards and orchards, and the harvest season is marked with local festivals. Villagers keep the old customs of zajal, improvised sung poetry.

At the table

Baalbek's sfiha, small open meat pies, and its sweet shops, with Baalbek's famed ice cream and nammoura, a semolina cake with syrup, are known across Lebanon. The valley produces wine, olive oil, and apricots, and local families make labneh and kishk, a fermented wheat and yoghurt.

Signature traditions of Baalbek

ZajalImprovised sung poetry of Lebanon.

Also part of it, and being written: Baalbeck International Festival (The festival in the Roman temples.), Sfiha (Meat pastry.).

A trail idea for Baalbek

  1. Temple of Bacchus Visit at dusk.
  2. Ksara winery Taste wine in the valley.
  3. Baalbek market Try sweets and sfiha.
About this page

Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

KindSpiritualFestivalRite of passageTable customSeasonalDressPerformanceEtiquetteCraftGameFolkloreHomeCeremony
MealBreakfastLunchDinnerSupperTea-time and snacking customsTea, coffee and drinking ceremoniesSweets given and sharedFeasts and festival mealsFasting and breaking the fast

No traditions here yet. New pages are added every day.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly EveryParampara

Every week: one tradition from somewhere new, what is being celebrated around the world this week, and one idea explained.