The Bekaa Kafra Year
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The dates the village lives by — the July feasts of Saint Charbel and the summer return — always sorted to what comes next.
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Loading The Bekaa Kafra Year…
The dates the village lives by — the July feasts of Saint Charbel and the summer return — always sorted to what comes next.
Loading the latest information…
Bekaa Kafra keeps two clocks. In winter the highest village in Lebanon is often snowed in and nearly empty; in summer it fills again as emigrant families return, and the year peaks around the feast of Saint Charbel — born here in 1828 — in the third week of July. These are the dates that come around every year. In the cold months, check "Snow & the Road Up" before driving up.
Happening now
The summer return
1 June–30 September 2026
Roughly June to September, the village comes back to life: emigrant families return from abroad, houses reopen, and weddings and family gatherings cluster in the warm months. The return is the village's economic lifeline as much as its social season — it is when the year's fruit, preserves and celebrations find their people.
Sunday, 18 July 2027 · Maronite Church
The Maronite Church keeps Saint Charbel's feast on the third Sunday of July, and the village's own anniversary celebrations gather around this Sunday — the biggest date of the year in the saint's birthplace, right in the heart of the summer return. In past years the feast week has brought a re-enactment of a traditional 19th-century village wedding in period dress and a fair of homemade local products — the village's apples, cherries and preserves.
The day's programme and church opening times are set locally by the parish and are not published reliably online — treat them as something to ask about in the village, not a fixed schedule.
Saturday, 24 July 2027 · Latin Church calendar
The wider Roman calendar marks Saint Charbel on 24 July, so celebrations often stretch across both dates. Lebanon's biggest Charbel gatherings are at the Annaya monastery, where the saint's tomb is — a different village, about two hours away. Bekaa Kafra is the birthplace: his family house, the church where he was baptised, and the grotto where he prayed as a shepherd boy.
How these dates work
Fixed dates — feast days, holidays — recur every year and are worked out forward from today, so this stays right without updates. Dates marked as approximate move year to year. The exact hours, and whether an event runs at all in a given year, are set by the host: confirm with them before you set out.
until Wed 30 Sept
The summer return · happening now
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