Aitanite

Aitanit is a village in Lebanon.

The population is about 500 people. Most of the townspeople are elderly or children. Aitanit has 2 churches, 1 for the Meronite and the other is Melkite Catholic. The entire village is Catholic. They have 1 school taught by the nuns. Aitanit is located is the southern region of Lebanon, particularly the Bekaa valley. Aitanit is also located about 1070 meters above sea level and is currently on the edge of a mountain. Below the mountain and the village is the Lake Quaroun (the Latani river). The region all in and around the village are farmlands and pastures filled with grape and olive trees. Aitanit is about 15–30 minutes from Zahleh (Capital of the Bekaa valley region) and about 45 minutes from Beirut. The village itself is about a 5-minute walk and a 1–2 minute drive. It is a very small village. Just about 5 minutes south,is the village of Machghara. In the winter, Aitanit experiences cool, wet, snowy conditions (about 10/50 degrees in the day and about 1/33 or 2/34 degrees in the night) but in the summer, it experiences hot dry conditions (30/86 to 37/99 in the day and about 20/68 to 28/82 in the night). Each year, Aitanit holds a festival called Eid Al Sayde! At the festival, you can experience food cooked by the women of the town, fireworks and loud debke music. Debke is a Traditional Lebanese dance.