Luv Is A Verb: Taybeh

What do you think when you think of Oktoberfest?

If you are like me, you think of Germans, brats, polka and beer. If you are like me, nothing about Oktoberfest makes you think Palestine.

Well, this weekend past weekend the YAGMs got the opportunity to attend the wonderfully cultural event of Palestinian Oktoberfest. Yep, that’s right, we attended Oktoberfest in Palestine. Since 2005, the annual Oktoberfest happens in Taybeh. Taybeh (which means good in Arabic) is a town famous for its olive trees, figs, grapes and almonds, plus it is believed to be the village where Jesus stayed with the disciples before the crucifixion.

Taybeh is also famous because it is home to the brewery of the only Palestinian brewed beer-Taybeh. So every year, Oktoberfest happens to celebrate all that is Taybeh. It is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy good food, live music, dancing and yes Taybeh beer. We feasted doughnuts and ice cream, saw a Sri Lanka dancer and heard a Spanish Folk Rock band (at a Palestianian Oktoberfest, talk about culture shock). It was a time of joyous celebration, see the below clip for some ideas of what happened.

However, if that was all that Taybeh was, I probably would not be blogging about it. Taybeh is not just a beer and Oktoberfest is not just a chance to gather for good times. Rather, they are a celebration of Palestine, and at their very core a part of the resistance. In the words of the Taybeh brochure:

Every thing about Taybeh is extremely revolutionary,

if not extraordinary.

In the middle of intense conflict, you find a community
striving to be normal and crying out to the world for the need to do astonishing things in the middle of oppressed conditions.
Taybeh responds with peaceful resolutions of celebrating its existence.

So the weekend is also full of Palestinian food (Shawarma, Falafel), Palestinian art, Palestinian dancing(dabka) and Palestinian based musicians, like Toot Ard,:

From what we can figure the chorus translates “Peace with you, Beautiful Peace”

So aside from being a joyous celebration and beautiful weekend, it was also a chance to gather and to celebrate the beauty of the Palestinian culture. The celebration of all that Palestine has to offer serves as a way to say, we are here, don’t forget about us. It was also a powerful reminder that while there are debates happening on the international level, the real revolution and real resistance are happening in little ways, every day on the ground in “normal Palestinian” life.