Transmission of thought plays no less significant a role in the development of culture than origination of thought. If the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, the first surah of the Koran; if Homer, Dante and Shakespeare were not transmitted, what would they have availed anyone beyond a limited place and time? [Hitti, 1971, p. 92]

Kaftoun is a small Lebanese village located along the north bank of the Nahr el Jaouz (Walnut River), in the District of Koura, North Lebanon. The houses of Kaftoun number seventy, and its inhabitants number about three hundred. They are mostly Greek Orthodox Christians, who are peaceful, respectful of others, and generally well educated. The name "Kaftoun" in the ancient Aramaic language means "dug from" or "sculpted from" a cliff. In the ancient Syriac language (Kftuna) it means "the domed". Both roots of the word lead us to believe that the village was named after the domed Theotokos Monastery which is carved in the red rock cliffs by the banks of the Jaouz River.

Kaftoun and its surroundings are steeped in history. This can be evidenced from the names of some of its families: Kanaan (canaan), after the Canaanites who dwelt in the region during the earlier Bronze Age (3000-1200 H.C.) and from which the Phoenicians of the Iron Age (first millennium B.C.) descended. Semaan (Samaan), after Saint-Simon (Sam'an), a shepherd from northern Syria, who became a monk after a revelation in a dream, and who lived on top of a pillar for forty-two years. He died in the year 459 A.D. The historic Maronite Church in the neighboring village of Boukssmayya, just across the Jaouz River from Kaftoun, is dedicated to his memory.

It was an evening like no other. Time for the seven year old boy stood still as he played with his friends at the Malaab [the playing field]. It was the evening of August 14, and all his friends would not stop talking about tomorrow! Yes, for tomorrow was not going to be any ordinary day! Tomorrow, none of them would have to pick and string tobacco leaves as they have done every day this summer. Instead they will be going on a picnic to the Monastery by Naher Al Jaouz where they can swim in the river. This is an opportunity for them to spend the money they have earned from [ta'fear]. Ta'fear is the activity of collecting stray almonds after the farmer's first pickings. Many of them earned several Lebanese Liras, twenty-five or thirty-five piasters at a time, by selling their pickings to the shopkeeper Afif.