Sidon wedding bells to replace Eid al-Fitr festivities

SIDON: The southern city of Sidon said goodbye to its City Wedding festival and kicked off preparations for a mass wedding to be held on October 5. The three-day festival, held to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, came to an end Friday as actors preformed their last shows and musicians played their last songs.

Children were the special focus of the last days of the festivities, which represented one of the biggest celebrations the coastal city had ever seen.

The children could attend story-telling and watch a puppet show, fireworks and mime performances presented by local and foreign performers.
The festival, dubbed City Wedding, was sponsored by Education Minister Bahia Hariri and was organized in collaboration with the Sidon Festival Committee.

However, the festive spirit will return to Sidon once again, as real wedding bells will be heard for a mass wedding scheduled to take place during the month of October.

The wedding is sponsored by Hariri and the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, with the collaboration of the Sidon Commerce Organization.
It is the second of its kind to be organized but the first to draw participants from the east of Sidon.

The celebration, besides being a big tourist attraction, aims at helping couples from Le­banese and Palestinian nationalities with financial difficulties.

Over 22 Lebanese and 38 Palestinians will tie the knot, pledging their love but also showing support for coexistence between the two communities.

Frequent meetings are being held for the participating couples in order to finalize all wedding arrangements, such as dresses and cakes. The meetings are being run by the committee, which wants to use the event to convey the message it stands for: social unity between Lebanese and Palestinians.

The mass wedding ceremony will include live performances by entertainers from both nation­alities, and the happy couples will receive gifts such as furniture and home appliances.