In his article “The World of the Juki,” (Winter-Spring 1983), Douglas Halebi Blake* indicates that he was brought up in Lebanon or western Syria amongst the nomadic Juki people of that region. The Juki are a people of Gypsy origin. Blake’s article is, in the words of an editor of Studies in Comparative Religion, “one of the most beautiful evocations we have seen of the nomadic spirit.” In it, Douglas Halebi Blake describes in very moving and powerful language the worldview of these vanishing people, mostly through the words of his Uncle Noah (his “patron” and “spiritual mentor”) and other poetically articulate and memorable elders.

-----------------------------
* The author's legal name is “Douglas Blake.” The family surname was changed years ago, but when publishing this article in Studies, and in other published writings, Douglas Blake used the name “Halebi,” which is the family name of his paternal ancestors.