Jerash — In villages and towns across Jordan where olive trees are widespread, the start of the olive-picking season brings back social traditions passed down through generations. The occasion is about more than an agricultural season for harvesting fruit and producing oil. In Jerash Governorate, as in other Jordanian areas known for olive cultivation, groves become family gathering places where parents, children and grandchildren come together. Meanwhile, olive presses welcome farmers eager to taste the season’s fresh oil with taboon bread, traditional Arabic shrak bread, labneh and local thyme. These customs evoke memories of grandparents and preserve details of traditional rural life.
اضافة اعلان
These rituals begin early in the morning, when families head to the groves. Members divide the tasks among themselves, picking the olives, collecting and sorting them, and preparing them for transport to the presses. Others prepare food and drinks, creating a scene where the scent of olives mingles with family conversations, the warmth of fires burning beneath cooking pots and cups of coffee passed among those present.
The olive-picking day does not end when the harvest is complete. Farmers also look forward to the pressing stage, which carries its own inherited traditions.
One of the most prominent is gathering at the presses to watch the fresh oil emerge and taste it immediately. Older people describe the first drops as “drops of goodness,” reflecting the livelihood and blessing they represent after a season of caring for the trees, tending the land and waiting for the fruit to ripen.
Taboon bread and traditional homemade food accompany families
Some farmers make sure to bring taboon bread or traditional Arabic shrak bread, along with labneh and local thyme, to eat with the fresh oil. During these hours, olive presses become meeting places where farmers and their families exchange stories, follow the pressing process and taste the new season’s produce before taking it home for storage and consumption throughout the year.
In the villages and towns of Jerash Governorate, the olive season remains an important family and social occasion, no less significant than its agricultural role. Families head to their groves early in the morning with their children and grandchildren. Relatives who have moved to other governorates or distant areas for work or housing also return to join their families during these days, which carry a strong sense of belonging to the land, family and collective memory.
Despite changing lifestyles, greater distances between family members and the daily work commitments of younger generations, the olive season continues to offer an opportunity to reconnect away from everyday pressures. Hours spent picking olives become a time for cooperation, conversation and recalling old stories. Meanwhile, women prepare food over wood fires, bringing back memories of rural life, when the land was closely tied to family and work was associated with affection and mutual support.
Eighty-year-old Ali Abdul Hamid Al-Ayasrah says the olive season means much more to people in Jerash’s villages than simply a few days of harvesting. It is a season with traditions that families have observed for many years and that have been part of their memories since childhood, when the whole family would head to the groves and spend the day among the trees before gathering around food cooked over a wood fire.
Bringing children and grandchildren to the groves
Al-Ayasrah recalls earlier olive seasons, noting that working in the grove brought the entire family together, with each person assigned a role. Some spread tarpaulins beneath the trees, others collected fallen olives, picked fruit from the branches or transported the harvest to collection points. The value of this work was not measured solely by what each individual accomplished, but by the spirit of cooperation that characterized rural life.
He adds that older generations made a point of bringing children and grandchildren to the groves so they could learn how to care for olive trees, understand their seasons and learn how to tend them. They also acquired the traditions of collective work practiced by their parents and grandparents. Children looked forward to these days because they offered a break from daily routines: the land became a place where relatives gathered, while working hours provided an opportunity to learn and listen to stories told by older family members.
He says one of the most distinctive features of these days is the family gathering around a table outdoors after spending hours picking olives. The day feels incomplete without food prepared over a wood fire, the aroma of coffee and tea, and conversations that continue among family members and neighbors.
For older people, these gatherings are an opportunity to check on their children and grandchildren. Younger family members, meanwhile, get to know their relatives better and strengthen bonds they may have little opportunity to maintain during the rest of the year.
An occasion that combines work and joy
This tradition also includes neighbors who sometimes work together in adjacent groves and help one another when needed. Such social relationships have long been part of village life, where interaction extends beyond land ownership to sharing food and taking part in the details of the season.
Olive farmer Amjad Al-Raimouni says the harvest season is an occasion that combines work and joy for many families. The land, which requires sustained effort to collect its produce, becomes a gathering point for relatives, particularly because olive picking is a task that benefits from the cooperation of many people.
He explains that some family members spread tarpaulins and prepare the area, while others pick the fruit. Others collect olives that have fallen to the ground, sort them and place them in containers for transport. Family members divide the work according to their experience and ability, reflecting the spirit of cooperation that remains evident in many groves in Jerash.
Al-Raimouni adds that having children and grandchildren in the groves gives the season a special character, particularly when relatives return from distant places to take part in the harvest. The gathering itself becomes an occasion everyone looks forward to. Those whose work commitments allow them to visit their parents only occasionally find the olive season an opportunity to spend more time with them and other relatives while participating in an activity linked to family memories and history.
Family cooperation and preserving memories
In many groves, a meal prepared over a wood fire is not simply a break from work; it is an essential part of the season’s traditions. Women prepare available ingredients for a meal to share with everyone present, while other family members light the fire, prepare the wood and help arrange the cooking area. Everyone gathers around the food in a simple atmosphere, with conversations about family matters, memories and news becoming part of the harvest day.
Fifty-year-old Khaled Al-Omour says what distinguishes these days is the different spirit in which people come to the groves. They do not come merely to complete an agricultural task, but to take part in an occasion that brings them together and allows them to step away from the pressures of daily life. He notes that children joining their parents and grandparents, and grandchildren participating in the harvest, brings joy to older family members and helps pass on land-related traditions to the next generation.
He adds that preparing qalayeh, a traditional tomato-and-egg dish requires cooperation among family members. They prepare the tomatoes, eggs and cooking utensils, light the fire and cook the meal over wood until it is ready. Others prepare the bread and arrange the seating area. One woman may take charge of cooking while other women assist, reflecting everyone’s involvement in the day’s activities.
Hospitality extends beyond food. Tea prepared over a wood fire is an essential part of the harvest day, as is coffee prepared and served to guests. Participants make sure to set up a small fire in a suitable spot in the grove so they can prepare hot drinks during breaks or after the meal.
Seasonal traditions from the groves to the olive presses
Traditional sweets are also part of these gatherings, particularly hareeseh, which some families associate with visits and family gatherings during the season. It is served after meals or with coffee, completing the hospitality traditions that participants have come to expect during harvest days.
Homemaker Ilham Bani Hamdan says the olive season is associated with unforgettable family memories for many women. The best part, she says, is having the family gather around one table and giving children memories connected to the land and their relatives, rather than allowing the olive season to become merely a crop that is harvested and transported to the press.
In Ajloun Governorate, where olive cultivation is one of the main agricultural activities, seasonal traditions extend from the groves to the olive presses. Farmers make a point of personally following the pressing process and tasting the new oil with local bread and traditional rural foods they have enjoyed for generations.
Farmers Zuhair Al-Ananzeh and Mustafa Shwayat make sure to be present at the olive press during processing and watch the fresh oil emerge. For farmers, this is a moment they look forward to after completing part of the work in the groves. They bring traditional Arabic shrak bread, labneh and local thyme to eat with the fresh oil a custom rooted in the memories of people from agricultural areas and now an established part of welcoming the new season.
Generations pass down traditions that reflect rural life
These gatherings allow farmers to exchange views on their crops, harvesting schedules and experiences in caring for olive trees. They also follow the pressing process and taste the oil, the result of work that has continued throughout the year. The importance of these moments goes beyond food: they reflect farmers’ joy in the produce of their trees and their desire to introduce family members to traditions that have accompanied olive seasons for many years.
According to estimates for the current season, Jordan’s olive harvest is expected to range between 220,000 and 230,000 tonnes. Around 30,000 tonnes will be allocated for pickling, while the remaining quantities will go for pressing. Olive oil production is forecast at approximately 28,000 to 30,000 tonnes, with the possibility of reaching 31,000 tonnes. Families and farmers are looking to secure their oil needs and make use of the harvest to prepare homemade preserves and other products.
In Ajloun Governorate, the Directorate of Agriculture expects olive production to reach around 43,000 tonnes this season. Olive trees cover an estimated 86,000 dunums, and 15 olive presses are preparing to receive the harvest. These figures reflect the season’s importance to agricultural families in the governorate, both in terms of production and income and because of its connection to social traditions renewed during picking and pressing.
These customs extend beyond the groves and presses to homes, where families prepare to receive the harvest and store the oil. Households make sure to secure their supplies of olives and olive oil, while some women prepare homemade provisions to accompany the harvest season, continuing the family’s long-standing relationship with the land and its produce.
Although the details vary from one area to another, these traditions remain part of the collective memory associated with the olive season in Jordanian villages and towns. While families head to the groves to pick olives and eat outdoors, farmers visit the presses to follow the process and taste the oil. Together, these activities represent two complementary sides of the season: one beginning with the tree and the other with the first drops of oil, connected by a journey of work and family memories that stretches from the land to the table.
Among branches heavy with olives, the hands of family members moving from tree to tree, the wood fire used to prepare qalayeh and the first drops of oil emerging from the presses, a social story is renewed from Jerash and Ajloun to villages and towns across Jordan. Here, the land is not merely a place of production; it is a place of gathering and shared memory.
Thus, the olive season remains an occasion across Jordan’s villages and towns to renew people’s connection with their land and families and pass down traditions that embody rural life and the warmth of social ties. From tomato-and-egg qalayeh and hareeseh in the groves to taboon and shrak bread served with fresh oil at the presses, olive trees continue to play a role that goes beyond their fruit. They remain witnesses to family stories and gatherings, and symbols of customs and traditions given a new opportunity to live on with every season.
Source: Al-Ghad.
