Brummana is a town in the Matn District

Matn District

Matn , sometimes spelled Metn, is a district in the Mount Lebanon Governorate of Lebanon, east of the Lebanon's capital Beirut...

 of the Mount Lebanon Governorate

Mount Lebanon Governorate

Mount Lebanon is one of the Governorates of Lebanon. Its capital is Baabda. The overwhelming majority of its population is Maronites, Greek Orthodox, and Melkite Greek Catholic Christians...

 in Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

. It is located east of Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

, overlooking the capital and the Mediterranean.

Overview

As most of the villages, Brummana has an Aramaic name which most probably means house of Rammana, the God of Air, Storm and Thunder: In the location where Brummana was built it was thought that the god “Raymond” in Aramaic or “Ramano” in Assyrian lived in, which gave the name “Beit Roumana” (or House of Roumana), and it is known that the letter B at the beginning of the name of villages refers to “Beit” in Arabic meaning “House” in English.

Climate

Summer is usually dry in Brummana and begins in early May and ends in mid-October. Summer temperature rarely exceeds 30 deg C, with a lower limit of around 20°C (68°F). Its relative humidity in summer runs at 68%. Winter is wet and mild with temperatures ranging between 5 and 18 deg C, with the occasional snowfall.

Demographics

Brummana is home to various religious groups, although Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox, make 85% of the population, with Druze

Druze

The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...

 making a substantial minority. The town is also the summer home of Arab tourists from the Persian Gulf

Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

 area, mostly from Kuwait

Kuwait

The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

, the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

, and Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

. There is also a very old Greek Orthodox church in Brummana, the Church of the Prophet Cha'ya, it was originally a fort of Byzantine origin around 1,500 years old, but was turned into a church in the seventh century. Eighty years ago, when Maronites fled from the north and settled in Brummana, the church had to be divided. It is now half Greek Orthdox and half Maronite (there is a wall separating the two sections).

Education

The most renowned educational institute in Brummana is Brummana High School

Brummana High School

Brummana High School is a secondary school in Lebanon. It is located in the village of Brummana, situated in Metn, Mount Lebanon, east of the capital city Beirut.This school was established in 1873, by the Quaker Theophilus Waldmeier...

, which was founded by the Quaker, Theophilus Waldmeier

Theophilus Waldmeier

Theophilus Waldmeier was a Swiss Quaker missionary. Married Susan Bell, eldest daughter of John Bell, at Magdala, Ethiopia on the 4th of December 1859.thumb|right|Theophilus Waldmeier...

 in 1873. The school influenced the inhabitants of Brummana and gave the town some English traditions, such as the five o’clock tea.

Theophilus Waldmeier

Theophilus Waldmeier

Theophilus Waldmeier was a Swiss Quaker missionary. Married Susan Bell, eldest daughter of John Bell, at Magdala, Ethiopia on the 4th of December 1859.thumb|right|Theophilus Waldmeier...

 (Swiss) 1832–1915: Theophilus Waldmeier, was born in 1832 in Basle, Switzerland. He attended the missionary college of St Crischona, near Basle, and went to Abyssinia as a missionary in 1858.
After being among a motley assortment of Europeans held prisoner by the mad Ethiopian King Theodore and rescued in the nick of time by General Napier and his British troops at the siege of Magdala; he left in 1868 and went to Syria, settling at Beirut in connection with the British Syrian Mission founded in 1860. He re-embarked on a second career of good works. Among the fruits of that career are two of Lebanon's most vigorous institutions—Brummana High School, and Asfuriya Mental Hospital, founded in 1894.

The Swiss Missionary Theophilus Waldmeier moved his half-Ethiopian wife and his eight children by horseback up the steep mountain path from Beirut to Brummana where he started the Friends' Syrian Mission in 1873.
In 1874, he traveled to Europe to seek financial backing from the Society of Friends. After listening to his impassioned plea for aid, some British and American Quakers formed a committee which, from that time until today, has provided support for the Brummana School.

Etymology

The name of the town, Brummana, stems from the Aramaic. The name most probably means House of Rammana, which was the god of air, storm and thunder. It was believed during Antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

 that Rammana lived in the area that is now Brummana, and thus the area became known as Beit Roumana (or House of Roumana) and later corrupted to Brummana.

Tourism

Brummana is one of Lebanon's main summer resorts due to its relatively cool climate. Sitting on top of a pine-forested hill, the town offers visitors spectacular views over Beirut, the Mediterranean coast, and the surrounding mountainous area. It attracts many Lebanese for day and weekend trips. Brummana also attracts thousands of Arab tourists from the Persian Gulf every summer, eager to escape from the hot and arid climate of the Persian Gulf. The population of Brummana rises to about 60,000 during the summer months, from a low of about 15,000 in winter, when the weather is cold and often snowy.