Chaikha Arzi el Khazen bio and Family
Written by Malek

Cheikha Arzi El Khazen bio
According to Salomon Al Rihani´s journal:

Salomon and his cousin Ameen Al Rihani (the famous Lebanese writer) traveled from Merida Mexico (where he has been living for 2 years and had an amazing business) , to New York and then to Europe on june 1, 1912.

Cheika Arzi El Khazen with Husband Salomon Rihani

They arrived in Europe on the famous and luxurious boat “RMS Luisitania”, they stayed in several cities in the UK visiting the industrial textil firms, and mansions of the Lords in Nottingham.

After a big tour in Europe, they traveled in the famous “Orient Express” to Istambul, and then they arrived to Beirut on september 1, 1912.

And Textually Salomon wrote this lines telling about his marriage with Cheikha Arzi El Khazen:


After spending few months visiting the mountains of Lebanon, my mother insisted on me to get married before she passes away. I visited several distinguished families in the mountain especially the Khazen Family, and particularly the house of Cheikh Libnan al-Khazen in Faraya, Kesrawan, where I was introduced to his charming daughter, Arzi, a beautiful lady characterized with sweetness and moral values. My visits were repeated to Cheikh Libnan during winter time when the snow blocked the road several times, but nothing could have prevented me from making those visits to see Arzi. When I found out that this is the lady that I want as my future wife I paid a visit with my nephew Ameen when it was decided to have the marriage benedictions at the house of Cheikh Libnan el-Khazen on April 3, 1913. On that day I left Freike together with my brothers-in-law Abbas and Rasheed through Jounieh where Ameen, Saada and Adele joined us. The chariots road leads only to Faytroun. From there we had to continue on horses to Faraya. We passed through the villages of Mayrouba and Hrajel before we reached Faraya on the afternoon of that day. At seven o’clock in the evening the two priests took care of the marriage benedictions in front of the Khazen Family, the Rihani Family, and many relatives and friends from Metn, Kesrawan,and Beirut. The best man was my nephew Ameen and the best woman was Malakeh, the sister of the bride and the wife of Cheikh Abdul-Ahad el-Khazen. The next morning the bride said farewell to her parents and we took off back home. The snow was shining under the sunshine till we reached Hrajel where heavy rain started pouring. We reached Adele’s house in Beirut at eight o’clock in the evening. (Ms: 22-24)

Ameen and I went to Freike the next day leaving the bride and her sister at my niece’s house until the wedding dress is ready. On Sunday, April 13 we went down to Beirut with a number of relatives and friends to bring the bride up to Freike for the big wedding ceremony. On that day the Freike residence was crowded with relatives and friends from Freike, Shawieh, Kornet el-Hamra, Faraya, Jounieh and Beirut to join us for the wedding celebration. Everybody was very pleased with the outstanding reception prepared by Ameen, Saada, Adele, and their distinguished mother [Anisa Faris Rihani]. (Ms: 24-25)

While spending the springtime in Lebanon we visited the North and particularly villages in Al-Batroun, Al-Koura, and other parts of the mountain. We paid back visits to several friends in those villages. We asked our lawyers to follow up on the legalities of our business deals in the country; and we enjoyed tremendously those beautiful spring months in Lebanon. (Ms: 25) 

On Sunday afternoon of the 14th of July 1913, we left Beirut to Yafa [Jerico, Palestine] by boat. We arrived after two days where Ameen was received by several distinguished personalities from the literary circle and the media. The next day we took the boat to Port Said [Egypt] where we stayed several days before we took another boat to Marseille [France]. There we made special arrangements for Said, my nephew (son of my sister), with Labibi, our servant at home in Freike, and Sij’an to travel to Mexico. The week in Marseille was spent visiting the city. Then we left to Paris. (Ms: 26) 

Spending a whole month in Paris with your bride is barely enough. We took Arzi around and showed her most of the historical and intellectual places of interest. I did some business, Ameen went to Switzerland, and when he came back we traveled from Paris to Cherbourg where we took the luxurious boat Olympic to New York on September 3 [1913]. We spent one week in New York, then said farewell to Ameen and left to Havana. It took us four days to reach. After two days we left Havana to Progresso then Merida. (Ms: 27) 

Our arrival to Merida was by the end of September 1913 after an absence of one year and five months. We spent a whole week in Merida receiving relatives and friends coming to congratulate us before I went back to work. During my absence my nephew Joe moved the old office to a larger one, a newly furnished office on 56th Street, with sound development plans for our business. After two month from my arrival we have moved to a new house with two floors where I lived with my wife in the ground floor, and Joe lived in the upper one. (Ms: 27)

Roberto
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Roberto the son of Arzi and Salomon was born in Merida on Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m., 25th of May 1915. He was baptized  at Saint Anna Church, Merida, Yucatan, on March 12 1918 at 5:00 p.m. His Godfather was Ameen, and his Godmother was Marguerite the wife of my nephew Joe. 
Roberto traveled with his mother [Arzi], and the wife of Ameen [Birtha] to New York on April 27, 1918 to spend summer over there. (Ms: 30)

Roberto had 9 children, on january 11th 1950 Gilda was born, she was the 5th kid, on may 1st 1976 she married Jose Luis Baduy and had 2 children Ramsi (1977) and Gilda (1980) married to Maleck Abdala Hadad on january 31th 2015 and had a baby Maleck Abdala Baduy El Khazen in may 9th 2016 and on May 2nd 2018 they welcome twins Antuan and Walid Abdala Baduy El Khazen