The religious soundscape of Mount Lebanon in the 18th and the first half of the 19th century

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article looks at the use of church bells by the Christian communities of Mount Lebanon in the 18th and the first half of the 19th century. The region was part of the Ottoman Empire, where bell ringing for religious purposes was forbidden. Instead, Christians usually employed a wooden instrument – the semantron – to call the faithful to mass. However, numerous accounts attest that during this period Mount Lebanon witnessed the expansion of bell ringing. By analysing these sources I trace this process of expansion and explore the factors that allowed it to take place. The results show that the religious soundscape of Mount Lebanon was special, as it was very different from the one experienced in the rest of the Ottoman Levant. This religious soundscape, which so far has not received any serious scholarly attention, is another aspect of the singular history of Mount Lebanon during the period of Ottoman rule.