ABSTRACT
Nebi Rubin was a major religious festival in coastal Palestine and Syria until 1948, significant among Palestine’s pilgrimage seasons. It originated as a regional fair and cultic center of Baal worship, celebrating the confluence of the Rubin River and the Mediterranean Sea. The festival was revived after the Crusades to counter the influence of European pilgrimages. By the Mamluk era, Nebi Rubin had become a Waqf-controlled event, featuring significant participation by Sufi groups. Nineteenth-century records emphasize its central role for pilgrims from Gaza and the surrounding villages. Early twentieth-century secularization brought about the introduction of theatrical performances, music, cinema, and other amusements. The photographs Frank Scholten took between 1921 and 1923 capture both the festival’s lively, carnivalesque atmosphere and its quieter, off-season moments that accentuate nature, trade routes, grazing animals, and the river’s shoreline.
