Damascus, Aug. 4 (SANA) Proverbs passed down through generations, alongside verses of poetry and wisdom that have traveled from one generation to the next, are now moving beyond the boundaries of family memory and into a documentation process led by the Culture Ministry, as part of preparations for a file to be submitted to UNESCO.
Within the festival’s activities at the Damascus Opera House, the ministry has set up an interactive corner inviting visitors to write down popular proverbs, poetic verses and sayings they remember, and pin them to wall-mounted boards alongside their names, in a participation that combines recalling local heritage with community contribution to its preservation.
The initiative’s significance lies in the fact that oral traditions are not merely preserved texts, but means of transmitting knowledge, social values and collective memory between generations.
Visitor contributions enter documentation process
Ali Rihan, a volunteer at the Culture Ministry, told SANA that the ministry launched the initiative to engage the public in documenting oral heritage. He explained that visitors are writing down popular proverbs, verses by Syrian poets or inherited wisdom, and these contributions will form part of the report the ministry is preparing.
Rihan noted that the visitors’ interaction reflects the presence of this heritage in their daily lives and their desire to participate in preserving it, as each person recalls a phrase linked to their environment, family or personal memory before adding it to the wall.
From personal memory to national value
Participant Fatima Youssef expressed her admiration for the initiative, saying it preserves the poetic verses and sayings passed down by ancestors, and recalls Syrian poets who left their mark on collective consciousness with words that expressed reality and memory.
Youssef said that collecting these contributions within a cultural document gives them national value beyond their brief presence at the festival, and allows future generations to learn about the language, images and experiences that shaped Syrians’ collective consciousness.
UNESCO recognizes proverbs, poems, tales and songs as forms of oral heritage, and stresses that their preservation is linked to their continued transmission and the participation of the communities that carry them.
The Damascus International Festival of Arabic Poetry is an annual cultural event organized by the Ministry of Culture to celebrate poetry and promote cultural dialogue, in line with the ministry’s broader efforts to protect and promote Syria’s cultural heritage in the post-war period.
Kh.A / H.H
