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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: Mahrajans
Annual gatherings celebrated Syrian-Lebanese heritage in the Midwest
Syrian Lebanese Americans living in the Midwest started making plans in 1936 to hold a festival and convention called a mahrajan.
Five hundred members of American Syrian Lebanese clubs from six Midwest states attended the first mahrajan in Iowa on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5-6, 1937, in Sioux City.
The mahrajan — basically a food and social festival — was sponsored by the Midwest Federation of American Syrian Lebanese Clubs.
Syrians had immigrated to the United States and Iowa in the early 1890s, fleeing the despotic reign of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
One of the earliest Iowa immigrants was Joseph George, who arrived in Cedar Rapids in 1893. By 1914, 25 Syrian families were living in the city.
Those immigrants formed American Syrian Lebanese clubs in their adopted country. In 1937, club members in Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri were invited to the first mahrajan, according to Tom Bashara, chairman of the conclave committee.
Attendees saw the Sioux City sights and attended a banquet and a dance on Sunday. On Monday, Labor Day, they went to Riverside Park for a softball game, picnic, games and more dancing.
Omaha representatives were at the event, lobbying to host the next gathering in Omaha. Instead, Cedar Rapids was chosen for the 1938 mahrajan, Des Moines for 1939 and Sioux City in 1940. Omaha was the host in 1946.
In its first decades, the mahrajans alternated between Sioux City, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Omaha and Wichita. Clubs from Milwaukee, Cleveland and Chicago also became involved.
Cedar Rapids in 1938
The Hotel Montrose was the headquarters for the first Cedar Rapids mahrajan on Sept. 4 and 5, 1938.
Lorraine DeWood, a radio singer from Milwaukee, was crowned queen of the convention Sunday night in the Montrose Crystal Room. Film star Tyrone Power chose her from photographs of the six finalists sent to him.
Besides an afternoon parade of 12 floats, the Musketeers Drum and Bugle Corps and a motorcycle drill squad, a social program was held at the Memorial Coliseum armory, with dancing and an athletic show.
The Attiyeh
The 1958 Midwest mahrajan was again hosted in Cedar Rapids, Aug. 30-Sept. 1, by the Attiyeh Benevolent Society, an organization that dated to 1935 in Iowa.
The Attiyeh were identified by Gazette reporter John Reynolds as an ancient family.
“They are descendants of an ancient and honorable tribe which dates back to the early part of the eighth century,” Reynolds wrote. “Known as ‘Christian Arabs,’ they ruled the southern part of the Syrian desert.
“Part of the tribe of ‘Christian Arabs’ was converted to Islam and still live in the Southern Syrian desert. They are the Beni Attiyeh tribe mentioned in (T.E.) Lawrence’s book, ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom.’
“Those who remained Christians left the original countryside and reached central Syria around Mount Lebanon. Some settled at Aleppo, Syria, while others moved on to Tripoli and Akkar. Others of the tribe found their way to Souq El Gharb, a metropolis in the Mount Lebanon area.
“Descendants of those who moved to Souq El Gharb moved at a later time to the intermediate Lebanese range and a small village known as Ain Arab, near Mount Hermon. This migration occurred during the 18th century and from this last movement came the eventual migration to America of an Arab people whose descendants formed the Attiyeh society.”
Tony Nassif
One of those Attiyeh descendants was Cedar Rapids restaurateur Elias J. “Tony” Nassif, who in 1958 headed the planning for the joint meeting of the Attiyeh and the Midwest mahrajan in Cedar Rapids.
Guests of honor at the festivities at the Roosevelt Hotel were Iowa Gov. and Mrs. Herschel Loveless.
In 1960, Tony Nassif was elected president of the Midwest Mahrajan, covering nine states. The convention that year was held in Sioux City and attended by Loveless and famed Lebanese comedian Danny Thomas.
In 1970, Dr. Daher B. Rahi, a physician from St. Clair Shores, Mich., was the guest speaker at the Midwest mahrajan banquet. Rahi agreed to speak after diplomatic staff from Washington, D.C., were unable to attend because of Middle East unrest in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967.
Last mahrajan
The last Midwest mahrajan recorded in The Gazette was in 1978. It was reported as the 43rd event, which have would placed the first one in 1935, rather than 1937.
Regardless, the three-day program over the Labor Day weekend included a talent show, American and Arabic dancing and a social hour. The farewell brunch at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 4 was the last mahrajan event.
That’s not to say, though, that the gatherings stopped. They didn’t, but they were no longer referred to as mahrajans.
This year, the 88th annual convention of the Midwest Federation of American Syrian Lebanese Clubs is July 19-21 in Oak Brook, Ill.
Those attending the Aug. 31, 1958, mahrajan at the Roosevelt Hotel in Cedar Rapids included (from left) Cedar Rapids Police Chief Carl Badger; Elias Atiyeh, director of aeronautics for Lebanon; Cedar Rapids Safety Commissioner Robert M.L. Johnson; and Linn County Attorney Richard Nazette. The mahrajan was hosted by the Attiyeh Benevolent Society, an organization that traced its roots to ancient Syria. (Gazette archives)
The 1958 Midwest mahrajan at the Roosevelt Hotel in Cedar Rapids on Aug. 31, 1958, included (from left) Joseph Nassif, assistant to mahrajan chairman; Cedar Rapids Mayor Jim Meaghan; Sam Nassif, vice president of mahrajan; Roy Saub, director of the mahrajan; Don Hines, a Cedar Rapids attorney; and Ed Nemer, mahrajan president. (Gazette archives)
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