Picture from Kadmous
Here’s a nice post by Kadmous.org on the similarities between the traditional Lebanese Dabké and old Phoenician Dance rituals based on Sir Gardener Wilkison’s studies on The Historic Illustrations of Dancing from 3300 B.C. to 1911 A.D.
Read the full article [Here].
Of the Phoenicians, we have some illustrations of their dance, which was apparently of a serious nature , judging by the examples which we possess, such as that from Cyprus representing three figures in hooded cowls dancing around a piper. It is a dance around a centre, as is also that from Idalium in Cyprus. The latter is engraved around a bronze bowl and is evidently a planet and sun dance before a goddess, in a temple; the sun being the central object around which they dance, accompanied by the double pipes, the harp, and tabour. The ASSYRIANS ( presently known as syrians of whom Syria Got its name ) , their neighbours , probably danced as much as the other nations, but amongst the many monuments that have been discovered there is little dancing shown, and they were evidently more proud of their campaigns and their hunting than of their dancing. A stern and strong people, although they undoubtedly had this amusement, we know little about it.
[YouTube]
It cannot be said that the origin of the Lebanese Dabkeh is separate from the Canaanites in Palestine. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Cataanites settled in the middle and south of Palestine before they gradually settled in its north and expelled the Natufians or dissolved them and then inhabited Lebanon and Syria. Therefore, I think that the origin of the Lebanese Dabkeh is not unique or unique, but rather it is also similar to the origin of the Dabkeh. The Palestinian Canaanite, so the use of Phoenician Punic images and scenes is a wrong inference, since those originally took the Dabkeh with them from the country of Canaan, so it is more correct to say that the Dabkeh in central and southwestern Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon is of the same origin.