The beginning
On June 4th
1978 , the members of St.
George Orthodox Church in Indianapolis , IN started a tradition that would last for many years to
come. Encouraged by Frank Maria, the most prominent Saidnayan in the USA , Alice Mesalam organized the first reunion for Saidnaya
descendants in the Americas . Since then, the reunion has become an important date for
the growing number of Saidnayans living in the USA and Canada .
The
first reunion was held in the church's hall for one day only. It included
a display of items and articles from Saidnaya. There were lectures and
historical reviews of Syria and Saidnaya. It also included Syrian music, dance,
dabke (a folklore line dancing) and games such as backgammon. The food was
prepared by the families attending the meeting, and each family brought some homemade
meal.
The
reunion has grown significantly over the years; and people from all over the
continent of America have come to participate. Nowadays, it is being held
over three day weekend, from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon; and among
other activities, it includes two parties (hafla) with meals on Friday and
Saturday’s evenings.
The history of immigration:
There
were two large waves of immigration from Saidnaya to the Americas . The first wave was from 1880 to 1924 and the second
one was from 1965 to the present. These two waves were in line with the
immigration pattern from the Arab countries that was dictated by two congressional
acts: 1924 and 1965.
On
the other hand, the economic situation in Syria became dire, especially after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Famines became wide-spread. In addition, the religious
discrimination by the strict Islamic Ottoman regime made life intolerable. These
two factors drove the people of Saidnaya to seek a better life in the new
world.
Here
in America , the industrial boom was taking shape and the demand
for workforce was increasing. It’s believed that, during the great immigration
wave (1880 – 1924), more than 20 millions new immigrants entered the USA . It was one of the largest immigration waves in
history. Among them, there were around 100,000 Syrians.
According
to the information I gathered from Saidnaya descendants over the years, I was
able to collect a total 117 persons who immigrated from Saidnaya during that
period: 83 men and 34 women. And it’s believed that John Corey (Farhan Ya’qoob)
was the first person to have come from Saidnaya to the USA around the year 1879.
Jobs and Settlement
On
arrival to the USA , Saidnayans chose one of four destinations to work and settle and
build a family. The choice was based on the type of job opportunities these
places had offered. And these are:
-
-
Some
of the immigrants worked as salesmen; initially as peddlers, and later, after
they had saved some money they opened their own stores. No matter what they did, they
made sure their children would go to school and have a better life. Many of the
next generation graduated from college with high degrees and became unrecognizable from mainstream America .
Here
are the names of the family that settled in each community and nearby areas:
The
second wave of immigration
After
the congress Act 1924, immigration from the Arab country was limited to only
100 persons each year. This led to a severe drop in the number of Saidnaya immigrants, many of whom decided to immigrate to South America instead. The new Saidnayan Americans, disconnected
from the old country, became more assimilated with the American society.
All
changed with the new Congress Act in 1965 when the restrictions were lifted and
a new wave of immigration started. Few of the new immigrants joined their relatives
who kept in touch over the years; but the majority had to start their journey
from scratch. This immigration wave is still going on, as we speak, driven by
the instability and the uncertainty of the political situation in the Middle East .
The
new immigrants settled all over the US and Canada . New Saidnayan communities were established in major
cities like New
York , Chicago , Toronto
and Montreal .
Here
are the names of these families: Abi Syke, Abou Sike, Abou Samra, Al-Cheikh, Al-Fahel,
Al-khouri, Allam, Al-Tullie, Assaf, Azar, Chahoud, Fahad, Farah, Ferris, Kahla,
Karraz, Keriaki, Keriaky, Khabaza, Khabazeh, Khoury, Kazma, Kozma, Kuzma, Maari,
Mamary, Metry, Moamar, Monsour, Mouamer, Mourad, Mrad, Naddaf, Nahas, Najmeh, Nejme, Nejmeh, Nijma, Rizk, Sahadi, Samra, Sarhan, Talli and Tomeh.
About the names
When
the pioneering Saidnayans escaped the harsh reality under the Ottoman rule,
they came with nothing but their memories and dreams, and their Arabic names,
written in Turkish on their documents. On arrival, the officers at
the immigration desk tried hard to figure out the names to fill the
applications. At times, officers wrote what they heard as best as they could. And many of the names took a distinctively
non-Arabic sound to them. Some sounded like the names of the most
recent immigrants from Ireland .
One
of the most common names in Saidnaya was “Khoury.” It is pronounced as KHOO-REE,
with the letter Kh sounds like snoring. It was
commonly used in Saidnaya as a nickname. It means “priest” in Arabic. And if a
member of a family had become a priest, that family would be nicknamed "Khoury."
The
word “Khoury” was written in three different ways: Corey, Corra, Coury. All
these three names are distinctly Irish.
The
other problem facing those who are looking for their ancestry is the fact that
many of these last names were actually their father’s names or their nicknames.
"Eid," for example, was a father or a grandfather’s name; while in Saidnaya, the family’s name
was “Katreena”. Likewise, "Farris" was the father’s name and the family’s name was
“Za’roor”. The Ellis’ name was their father’s name also. Their family’s name
was "Talli." In those days, it was a habit to call people by their father’s name,
not their family’s name.
Some
of the names were chosen because they were easier to write and pronounce than
the original ones. Simon’s name, in Arabic, is pronounced as “Sim-Ann” which is
a name of a Saint in Syria and "Simon" is its version in English. Marod is pronounced as
“Moorad” In Arabic.
Certain
first names were changed to somewhat similar names in English. For example
“Abdalla” was always written as “Albert,” while the names “Shehadeh” and “Khaleel” were
always written as “Charles.”
An
extreme example involved one Saidnayan man whose name in Saidnaya was “Abdalla
Keriaky.” But he was nicknamed “Abdalla Azar” because his father’s name was
“Azar.” In America , “Abdalla Keriaky” became “Albert Azar.”
The
new immigrants had less trouble with their names because they picked their
English version of the name in Syria before leaving. In spite of that, you can notice some
differences in the use of vowels. For example, the name “Nejmeh” was spelled in
four different ways: Najmeh, Nejme, Nejmeh, Nijma.
History of the reunion
& gathering
The
reunion continued to be held in Indianapolis , at the same church’s hall, until 2008 when the organizers
declared that they were no longer able to organize it every two years. After
that meeting the reunions, along with the intervening gatherings, were held in a
different city each time.
1978
– 2002: Indianapolis
2003:
2004:
2005:
2006:
2007:
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011:
2012:
The
next two meetings will be in Lowell (2013) and Chicago (2014)
Francis “Frank” Maria
The
Idea of holding a regular Saidnaya reunion was the brainchild of Frank Maria,
the most prominent saidnayan in the USA . He was born in Lowell ,
MA to John and Mary Saba Maria in 1913 and died in 2001.
Both of his parents were born in Saidnaya.
After
graduating from Boston University , he worked as an English teacher. Later, he expanded
his activities to include social, political and religious works. He worked on
many advisory committees to many politicians, including presidents.
President
Eisenhower invited him to attend the White House Conference on World Refugee
Problems in 1959, where Frank authored four of the eight resolutions on
recommendations to solutions on the pressing problems of refugees. The
President also named
him to the U.S. delegation for the
UNESCO general session in 1960.
The
numerous accomplishments by Frank made him the most successful Saidnayan in the
USA and to read more about him, click on this site:
Notes:
I
tried to be accurate and thorough but unintentional mistakes are a possibility.
If I missed any name, please let me know.
I am
especially thankful to Mr. George Allam, who has been keeping and updating the
Saidnaya directory for all these years.
Below, see copies of two
documents from the first ever reunion. The flyer and the proclamation by Father
Joseph Rahal, the pastor of St. George Church, proclaiming Sunday, June 4th
1978 as “The People of Saidnaya Day”
مرحبا , اسمي غسان عبيد من صيدنايا , اود ان اتواصل مع الدكتور غسان كرياكي .... كيف ممكن ذلك ؟؟
ReplyDeleteghassan-obeid@hotmail.com
If you are the Ghassan Keriaky who has written on the Syrians of Bay Ridge, I would like to contact you to discuss our family history. My grandfather and his brother had an import/export shop on Washington St. and had homes in Bay Ridge. I have some photos and other memorabilia that might be of interest.
ReplyDelete