Safsaf- صفصاف

This mask is named after a pre 48 village called Safsaf. Safsaf was only 9 km away from Safad. Safsaf means “willow” in Arabic, and according to nakba survivor, Ahmed sharydeh, the village was named after an old tree called Safsaf. He also mentioned that (when under British mandate), the British colonizers had a m5tar (chosen one) where they would meet up with the chosen one to get updates on what’s going on with the village. The chosen one, which Ahmed remembered, was a local owner of a dukan (grocery store) and he specifically reported count of newborns and members in the village.

Many of the villagers had animals, according to nakba survivor, Muhammad Abdullah  Edghaim  , people of the village owned their own reens, which was a deep hole that held rainwater, on a hill. The cows knew exactly which one belonged to their owners and drank from it accordingly. Many of the cows, mules and donkeys would wander the village freely and would always return to their (owner’s) home on their own. 

There was also a well known sheepherder path in the village, Muhammad described it as a forest but the people of sasaf divided it and called them wara3 al sa3’eer (small wara3) and wara3 al kabeer (big wara3), the wara3 would have every kind of tree you’d imagine, the baloot (oak) trees, wild berries, wild apple trees, wild pomegranate trees, wild peach trees etc.  The village of Safsaf was completely ethnically cleansed in October 1948, many of its people went to refuge in Lebanon, some made it in Syria, and some were taken as political prisoners by zionists.  

Trigger Warning/Nakba:

There was an account of 70 men of safsaf blindfolded and executed by the zionist army in 1948. There were also accounts of rape when zionists invaded the village.
 

According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi:  Safsaf “ is overgrown with grass and scattered trees among which can be seen a few terraces and piles of stones from destroyed houses. A few houses are inhabited by Israelis”