This war-torn village is fighting to keep Christ’s language alive

When Michline Zarour talks— anything from telling a friend a joke to whispering a lullaby to her son—she does so in Aramaic, the same language Jesus is said to have spoken. Zarour is from the small Syrian village of Maaloula, one of the few places left where Western Aramaic, Christ’s mother tongue, is still used in daily life. The village’s name—derived from the Aramaic word ma’la, which means “entrance”— aptly reflects the setting: the mouth of a dramatic gorge.

Author: @NatGeo

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