5 Things You Didn’t Know About Afreen and Our Aleppo Soaps
A hill full of olive trees rests behind lush Afreen fields.
In the spring of 2010, I traveled to Afreen, an enchanting community northwest of Aleppo where I learned about soaps, kilims, and my Kurdish ancestors. I saw rolling hills dotted with olive trees and sheep grazing the land and met the generous, warm people of Afreen. I learned about their customs, sustainable lives, and left with memories of the fragrant scents and beautiful natural images. The five memories I hold dearest of my visit to Afreen:
Woman in Afreen weaves a flat rug, using natural dyes and materials that capture the local culture.
The olive tree is the symbol of Afreen - the hills are home to the largest olive tree orchards that supply Aleppo and other regions with fresh olive oil used for making soap and for consumption.
Afreen is home to a Syrian Kurdish community - most people I met spoke Kurdish, a few spoke Arabic. As a farming community, most lived off growing and harvesting olive, pistachio, and herbs.
Afreen textiles are famous for their bright natural colors - women in Afreen used wool from their herds to weave beautiful, colorful flat weave rugs, rich with symbols that note the season the rugs were made and tell stories of community and the land they lived on.
Afreen soaps use natural essential oils - soaps made in Afreen use the famous Aleppo soap ingredients including olive oil, bay leaf oil, and a range of essential oils from plants and herbs harvested in Afreen including jasmine, lavender, rose, and tulip.
The Aroos kilim is made in Afreen - a bride’s family weaves a kilim, made with natural dyes, dotted with colorful tufts that symbolize the bountiful harvest and her future healthy family. The bride takes the kilim with her to her new home, and that kilim is used to separate her living quarters from the in-laws’, giving her privacy and reminding her of her family home.
To get a sense of the beautiful Afreen culture, try our Aleppo soaps, made in Afreen, packaged in LA, delivered from our home to yours with love.