Bulbul

Syria – Wooden Spinning Top

This spinning top has a personal story.

As I was in Damascus, I asked here and there where I could find spinning tops, most replies sent me to the famous Al-Hamidi Yeh souq, the largest and central souq in Syria. It is located inside the old walled city of Damascus.

But even there I could not find spinning tops.

I decided I would find a top whatever cost. Passing in front of a carpenter’s shop I noticed he was woodturning what looked like a chair leg.

I entered the shop and asked him if he could make a spinning top for me. I always carry a wooden spinning top with me so I can show it if I am not understood. He could not do it but from the back of the shop I heard the voice of an old man who appeared with a smile on his face. He knew exactly what I was asking for. He explained the way to do it, and his son took a piece of wood and started turning it into this beautiful top.

It was a moment I will never forget, an interaction with a younger man who did not know wooden spinning tops and an old man who knew exactly what it was. I was offered a cup of tea, and the old man was telling stories of spinning tops and how they used to play when he was a young boy.