Darbechtar is a village located on the South-Eastern periphery of the Koura District

Koura District

Koura or El Koura is a district in the North Governorate, Lebanon.Koura is one of the 36 districts of Lebanon, which is very popular for the olive tree cultivation. It is known by its dark green color....

 in the North Governorate

North Governorate

North Governorate is one of the governorates of Lebanon. Its capital is Tripoli.-Districts:The North Governorate is divided into districts, or aqdya...

 of the Republic of 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...

.

Darbechtar borders the villages of Amyoun, Bziza, Majdel, Kaftoun

Kaftoun

Kaftoun is a small Lebanese village located along the north bank of the Nahr el Jaouz ,in the Koura District, North Lebanon.The population of the Village is approximately three-hundred, spread around seventy-four houses...

, and Dar-shmizzine.

The Lebanese

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...

 hailing from Darbechtar number 10,000 worldwide. 85% of them live outside Lebanon, mainly in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, and the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The population of Darbechtar is Maronite Catholic.

Etymology

The name of the village is derivative of the Aramaic words, Dar and Ishtar, meaning the House of Astarte

Astarte

Astarte is the Greek name of a goddess known throughout the Eastern Mediterranean from the Bronze Age to Classical times...

. It is believed that the village was the site of an ancient Phoenician shrine for the Goddess of Fertility.

Climate

Darbechtar : Mediterranean

Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

 plain village with heavy rains, mild winters and hot dry arid summers.

Min / Max average temperatures in Celsius Degree

Jan (8/16) Feb (9/16) Mar (10/19) Apr (13/22) May (16/25) Jun (19/27) Jul (22/29) Aug (23/30) Sep (20/29) Oct (17/27) Nov (13/22) Dec (10/18)

Environment

The village is the home of Olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

 oil production. Therefore most of the village is planted with the ever green Olive

Olive

The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...

 Trees along with Grapes, Figs, variety of bushes, plants, and flowers.

Description of the Olive Tree

The Olive is an evergreen tree or shrub native to the Mediterranean. It is short and squat, and rarely exceeds 8-15 meters in height.

The silvery green leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are oblong in shape, measuring 4–10 cm long and 1–3 cm wide. The trunk is typically gnarled and twisted.

The small white flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s, with four-cleft calyx

Sepal

A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...

 and corolla

Petal

Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...

, two stamen

Stamen

The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...

s and bifid stigma, are borne generally on the last year's wood, in raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

s springing from the axils of the leaves.

The fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 is a small drupe

Drupe

In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...

 1-2.5 cm long, thinner-fleshed and smaller in wild plants than in orchard cultivars. Olives are harvested at the green stage or left to ripen to a rich purple color(black olive).

Olive oil extraction

Traditionally, olive oil was produced by crushing olives in stone or wooden mortars or beam presses. Nowadays, olives are ground to tiny bits, obtaining a paste that is mixed with water and processed by a centrifuge

Centrifuge

A centrifuge is a piece of equipment, generally driven by an electric motor , that puts an object in rotation around a fixed axis, applying a force perpendicular to the axis...

, which extracts the oil from the paste, leaving behind pomace

Pomace

Pomace , or marc , is the solid remains of grapes, olives, or other fruit after pressing for juice or oil. It contains the skins, pulp, seeds, and stems of the fruit....

.

Uses of the Olive Fruit

Olive Oil is used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps, and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps. Olive oil is a healthful oil because of its high content of monounsaturated fat (mainly oleic acid) and polyphenols.

Places of worship

There are 4 places of Christian worship in Darbechtar mainly Churches:

• Church of Saint George
  Saint George
  Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
  
  
• Church of Saint Elias
• Church of Saint Chalita
• Church of our Lady of Saydeh

Additional information

Koura Villages
1. .Aaba	2. .Afsdik	3. .Ain Akrine	4. .Ali-al-Mouran
5. .Amioun	6. .Anfeh	7. .Badebhoun	8. .Barghoun
9. .Barsa	10. .Bdebba	11. .Beitroumin	12. .Bechmezzine
13. .Bhabouch	14. .Bishriyata	15. .Bkomra	16. .Bneyel
17. .Bohssas	18. .Btourram	19. .Btouratige	20. .Bkeftine
21. .Bnehran	22. .Bsarma	23. .Btaaboura	24. .Bziza
25. .Charlita	26. .Chira	27. .Dahr-al-Ain .	28. .Darbechtar
29..Darchmezzine .	30. .Deddeh	31. .Fih	32. .Ijdebrine
33. .Kaftoun Kaftoun Kaftoun is a small Lebanese village located along the north bank of the Nahr el Jaouz ,in the Koura District, North Lebanon.The population of the Village is approximately three-hundred, spread around seventy-four houses...	34. .Kefraya	35. .Kelbata	36. .Kelhat
37. .Kfaraakka	38. .Kfarhata	39. .Kfarhazir	40. .Kfarkahel
41. .Kfarsaroun	42. .Kousba	43. .Maziriit Toula	44. .Mitrit
45. .Mijdel	46. .Nakhleh	47. .Rachedbine	48. .Ras Maska
49. .Ras Osta	50. .Wata Fares	51. .Zakroun	52. .Zakzouk

Additional geographical information:

http://www.fallingrain.com/world/LE/3/Amioun.html

See also
List of cities in Lebanon