レバノン伝統の帽子「ラッバーデ」　最後の職人

【ハラジェル（レバノン）ＡＦＰ＝時事】中東レバノンの雪深い山の中。ユスフ・アキーキさん（６０）は、千年続く伝統的な羊毛を使った帽子「ラッバーデ」を作っている。（写真はラッバーデを手掛ける帽子職人のユスフ・アキーキさん。レバノンの村ハラジェルで）
　ラッバーデという名はアラビア語のフェルトに由来する。アキーキさんは、自分がラッバーデを作れる最後の職人だと話す。
　アキーキさんは、出身地である標高１２００メートル以上の山の上にある村ハラジェルでＡＦＰの取材に応じた。
　ラッバーデは丁寧に手作りされている。羊毛を日干しした後、オリーブとローレルの油が配合されたシリア・アレッポ産のせっけんと水を使って成形し、手でフェルトに仕上げる。
　「こうすることで羊毛が縮み、パン生地のように延ばせるようになる」と語る。その手は、長年の作業で荒れている。時間がかかるため１日に３個作るのがやっとだ。
　防水効果もある帽子は機能的で暖かいが、普段使いする人はほとんどいない。
　購入するのは主に観光客や子ども時代を懐かしむレバノン人だ。かぶるのではなく家に飾る人が多い。
　ラッバーデのデザインは、古代フェニキア人がかぶっていた帽子が原型だが、フェニキア人のものは「もっと長かった」とアキーキさんは言う。
　アキーキさんは帽子の収入だけで暮らしていくのは難しいため、農業もやっている。顧客を増やすため、モダンなデザインも手掛けている。また、伝統の技をおいに伝授している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/03/13-16:58）

High in Lebanon's rugged mountains, hatmaker Youssef Akiki is among the last artisans practising the thousand-year-old skill of making traditional warm woolen caps once widely worn against the icy winter chill.
Akiki believes he may be the last commercial maker of the sheep wool labbadeh -- a named derived from the Arabic for felt, or labd -- a waterproof and warm cap coloured off-white, grey, brown or black.
The elders of the village make their own labbadehs, said Akiki, who also dresses in the traditional style of baggy trousers.
Akiki, 60, from the snow-covered village of Hrajel, perched more than 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) up in the hills back from Lebanon's Mediterranean coast, said making the hat requires a careful process.
After drying sheep's wool in the sun, he moulds it with water and Aleppo soap -- which includes olive oil and laurel leaf extracts -- to turn it into felt with his hands.
It helps the wool shrink, so it becomes malleable like dough, he said, showing his hands, rough with years of work.
It is a slow process that allows him to fashion three labbadehs in one day, at most, he said.
Though the hats are practical and warm, few people wear them today.
Those buying the caps are mainly tourists -- or Lebanese nostalgic for their childhood -- and they often buy them not to wear them but to display them at home.
The state should guarantee us markets and places to exhibit, the craftsman said.
Income from the hat trade is not enough to survive on, and Akiki also works as a farmer, especially given the dire economic crisis that has gripped Lebanon in recent years.
Lebanon's economic turmoil has left many struggling to make ends meet, and the poverty rate has reached 80 percent of the population, according to the United Nations.
Akiki believes the labbadeh design is rooted in the caps worn by the ancient Phoenicians, although their style was more elongated.
Today, in order to encourage more customers, he is dabbling with more modern designs and, to keep the skills alive, is training his nephews in the time-honoured craft.