Levantine Lavender

🟣 Levantine Lavender  

The colour purple — a sweet sadness, but a beautiful memory.

This soap is an homage to Um Ali, the late wife of our groundskeeper, Abu Ali.

She was an energetic soul who helped us pick lavender in the valleys of South Lebanon. She moved through the land with a kind of playfulness and lightness that stayed with you.

Last year, Um Ali’s entire family was killed in an Israeli strike, which caused her to suffer a brain hemorrhage, leaving her beloved husband behind.

Abu Ali used to follow her through the valley, collecting the lavender she picked. He is a man of few words, but she always knew how to make him laugh, how to bring him out of his shell. Without her, things have not been the same.

We all miss her presence deeply.

This soap is in memory of Um Ali, and the beautiful lavender she once helped us pick in the valleys of South Lebanon.

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( “Um” in Arabic means “mother of” and Abu means “father of” ). Directly translated from Arabic into English is:  “Mother and father” of Ali”.

In Arabic, we often don’t call people by their first names.
We call them “Abu” or “Um” – father or mother of their child – as a sign of respect and love. It’s a way of honouring who they are, not just as individuals, but as part of a family, a home, a story.