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Culture 12

In Turabdin Syriacs are mostly farmers and provide for their own food. Farmers have different pieces of land, which are often not all around the house where the family lives. The land can be found in the wider surroundings of the village. Commonly, each family has its own vineyards, grows different kind of grains, melons, cucumbers, chickpeas and lentils. From the grapes, they also produce syrup, raisins and other nice sweet products such as coliqe, bastiq and ḥalile. If families cannot do all the work on the farm by themselves, they hire seasonal employees. And if they produce too much of something, they trade it on the market for something else. Until about the 1980s women made yoghurt and sold it on the market in the nearest town. The villagers go to the closest town for trade and come back home with the necessary shopping.

The following saying is considered a warning for making one’s choice at the wrong time: Tërto me margo lo šuqlat w kalo me mëštuṯo lo ṭëlbat "do not buy a cow from the grasslands and do not find yourself a bride at a wedding". It means that one can easily be misled in a situation where one can just see the positive (and not the negative) aspects of the subject of one’s desire.