Historical Background

How Sakhnin got its Name

People and tribes who settled this area have given Sakhnin different names throughout history and the most ancient of these names dates back to the Pharaohs.
Some archeologists said that Sakhnin was built on the ruins of an ancient city called "Sakhin", which was among the cities that the Pharaohs conquered. Another version says that Sakhnin has got its name by the workers who used to dig for purple dye in a place northwest of Sakhnin which is called today "The Valley of Cotton". The workers used to live on the hill where the ancient town of Sakhnin was located and these workers were called in the Aramaic language "Sokhnim" which means agents and then the name was slightly altered to Sakhnin.
A third version claims that Sakhnin got its name after a Jewish Yihoshua Di Sakhnin. This man lived in the area with a group of Jews who accompanied him. He died and was buried in Sakhnin and his grave still exists in the old neighborhood of Sakhnin.
A fourth version says that a group of people came and lived in the hilly area. It is believed that those people were very generous. The equivalent word for this word is "Sakhi", and in time it was slightly changed into "Sakhnin" and to this day the people of Sakhnin are renowned for their generosity and gracious hospitality.

The Traditional Arab House

The traditional Arab house functioned as a home for the people as well as a stable for the animals, a habitation for birds and a storehouse for grain to protect themselves from famine.
The old houses were built from limestone. The walls were made 1 meter thick. Our forefathers took advantage of the thickness of the walls and made holes and openings to be used as cupboards and shelves as well as for storage purposes. One third of the houses was called the stable, which was used for animals as well as pigeons and hens.
Another important part of the house was called "Alsida" which was usually built above the stable and it was always higher than any part in the traditional house.
"Alsida" was used for storage of grain, oil and other supplies. The water wasalways put in big jars made of pottery.
The oil was stored in big barrels, which looked like jars. Honey, butter, coffee and roasted wheat were stored in leather canteens.
Salt was stored in vessels called "Hisha" in the native language which was similar to a jar. This was put in an opening in one of the thick walls in the house. In one of the inner corners of the house, there was the fireplace and above it there was the chimney.

The fireplace was used for cooking and heating the house in the cold winter. Near the house, they built "Altaboon" which served as a bakery. The women used to bake the bread and sometimes cooked their food. "Altaboon" was shared by several families and women took advantage of their gathering and exchanged gossiping.