The Fairy’s Heel

Description

“We cannot fathom the mysteries of cities without their women—their female inhabitants and daughters, who remain steadfast, enduring remnants of ancient cultures that collapsed before the encroaching might of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Despite the deep religiosity that characterizes the people of Hama, its women—perhaps unwittingly—remain secretly loyal to their primordial ancestress: the Syrian goddess Anat. They do not kill the snakes that dwell within their homes, and on the first of July, they abstain from eating ground flour. Every woman is a seed of the immortal Anat.”

With fluid, literary prose and a keen, documentary sensibility—bolstered by a vivid memory, rich in eloquence and imbued with a distinctly feminine poeticism—novelist Lina Al-Huwaiyan Al-Hassan chronicles a journey back to the landscapes of her childhood in northeastern Syria. This is a land tormented by successive occupations, where invaders from every corner, origin, and background have descended, and where the specter of death has come to haunt the homes of its people. It is a voyage into a realm of profound innocence and natural beauty—a journey through the myths, ancient monuments, and histories of a place whose richness transcends the ages. A journey across various locales, delving into the worlds of Syrian women—from the encampments of the Bedouins to the legends they share about the potent presence of magic in these lands of the Levant, where Aramean, Greek, Roman, and Arab influences have intertwined over the ages. “He who adorns his woman with cowrie shells finds himself on land ruled by the daughter of Shamhurush; yet, just a kilometer to the north, no one dares even touch a cowrie shell, for they belong to the realm of Hind bint al-Malik al-Ahmar—a soothsayer among the jinn—who permits no one to trifle with them. Folklore holds that by surrounding mirrors with cowrie shells, we strip them of their memory; for mirrors witness our secrets and deeds, hear our words, and perceive our very selves—and to keep these secrets safe, they must be imprisoned within the shells. These small, humble objects serve as silent guardians of secrets.”
This account chronicles a journey through the Badia (desert) of Hama—situated at the very heart of the Syrian landscape—exploring the spirit of the place and its rich cultural tapestry. For this work, the author was deservedly awarded the Ibn Battuta Prize for Travel Literature.