Have you ever wanted to tread grapes with your feet and not have to clean up the mess afterward? Making wine in the traditional way is just one of the activities on offer at Ein Yael during their annual Sukkot Festival.
Ein Yael is an Active Museum located in South Jerusalem where you can explore life in Roman times. During the Sukkot Festival, actors in Roman costumes bring the past to life and invite children to participate in workshops where they can try ancient crafts and have fun and get messy!
Every day during Sukkot there are hands-on workshops such as making mosaics, fresco painting techniques, weaving cloth, carving bamboo flutes, making clay vessels on a potter’s wheel, treading grapes, mixing scented oils, and baking pita bread. The workshops are designed to be both fun and educational. The demonstrators explain where clay comes from and show the different stages of weaving, from preparing and cleaning the wool, to winding and dyeing the thread before weaving it into rugs on the looms. You can learn how to make oil using their olive press, and watch how wheat is threshed.
Ein Yael is called an Active Museum because it encourages everybody to get actively involved in the ancient processes of creating tools, objects and food. Treading grapes is a great way to get rid of excess energy, but you don’t have to drink the grape juice that has been trampled by all those little feet! There are opportunities to play with mud and learn how the ancients made bricks for building, and even little children can craft simple clay vessels and paint them to take home. Getting your hands (and feet!) dirty is a great way to experience what life was like in the ancient world, and make your kids grateful for the ease with which food is made today!
The Ein Yael Active Museum and nature reserve is open all year round and you can tour the remains of an ancient Roman Villa, the reconstructed Roman street with shops and workshops, the Song of Song Garden, and the ancient terraces once used for agriculture. It is located near to the Malcha Train Station in Jerusalem, close to the Biblical Zoo, Malcha Mall and Park Hamesilla.
Talk to Shatour about arranging a visit to Ein Yael for a fun activity-filled day with the family.