Learn more about Nick Haddad’s vase, featured in the exhibit Arab Massachusetts: Building Community in the Commonwealth on view through February 13, 2026.

Interview with Nick Haddad:

Nick: Sure, my parents grew up in the South Cove area also known as Syriatown. And it was adjacent to Chinatown, in Boston. So, they had a lot of friends, they grew up there, they had a lot of friends in school, in the community—Chinese as well as Middle Eastern. When my parents got married, they had Chinese people who came to the wedding and gave them gifts. 

One of the gifts was this lovely vase. Actually, they got two vases but I have one, my brother has one now. It’s a beautiful vase. It portrays, I guess, it looks like a parade with several characters on it carrying sticks with lanterns and decorations. It looks like it’s—it feels like it’s glass. It’s somewhat translucent. I can see light coming through it, but it may be porcelain. I don’t really know, but it means a lot to me because it represents not only  something from my own family, but from my family’s early days, long before they were my parents. They had this connection to another community and I’ve inherited this, so it’s meaningful to me in that way. 

Interviewer: Okay, that’s great. Thank you. 

尼克：當然。我父母成長於南灣區，當地也稱為敘利亞城。那裡毗鄰波士頓的唐人街。他們在那裡結識許多朋友，無論是在學校還是社區裡，既有華人也有中東裔。父母結婚時，有華人賓客出席婚禮並贈送禮物。 

其中一件禮物就是這只精美花瓶。其實他們收到兩只，現在我保留一只，弟弟留著另一只。瓶身描繪的圖案——我猜像是遊行場景，數個角色手持掛著燈籠與裝飾的木棍。材質觸感像是玻璃，略帶半透明質感。能看見光線透過它，但或許是瓷器。我無法確定，但它對我意義非凡——不僅承載著家族記憶，更連結了父母成為我父母之前的家族根源。他們曾與另一個社群有過連結，而我繼承了這份連結，因此它承載著深厚的歷史意義。 

訪談者：明白了，非常精彩。謝謝您。