The quiet Christmas of Bethlehem: ‘Less business, more religion’



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20201224 Christmas in Bethlehem

Children walk through closed shops on a decorated street before Christmas in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, amid the new coronavirus pandemic crisis Image: AFP / HAZEM BADER.

Deprived of its usual tourist influx due to the pandemic, Bethlehem will celebrate a quiet Christmas this year that is less about commerce and more about religion, says its parish priest.

In a typical year, hundreds of thousands of visitors flood the Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, located less than 10 kilometers (six miles) from Jerusalem.

Those seeking a quiet moment of contemplation at the Church of the Nativity, the place of Christ’s birth, according to tradition, generally have to use their elbows to maneuver through the crowd.

While the lack of visitors has been devastating for business owners, it has also provided a unique opportunity for solemn worship, said Father Rami Asakrieh, pastor of Bethlehem.

“Sometimes there are more than half a million people who come in this period to visit the Church of the Nativity,” he told AFP.

But with coronavirus restrictions making travel to Bethlehem nearly impossible for foreign worshipers, the Church of the Nativity has been eerily quiet in the days leading up to Christmas.

Beneath the Grotto of the Nativity, the recitation of the Armenian prayers of four monks resonated clearly in the deserted basilica of its typical crowds of visitors.

The Christmas Eve mass on Thursday, considered the most important annual event in the church, will be closed to the public.

‘Anguish and pain’

Not even representatives of the Palestinian Authority will come to Bethlehem on December 24, Asakrieh said.

“It has never happened before,” he explained, citing only past restrictions during the Palestinian intifadas, or uprisings, against Israel’s occupation.

“I think this Christmas is different because people are not busy with the external manifestations of the party,” said the priest, referring to the purchase of gifts that, for many, has become synonymous with Christmas.

“Now (people) have time, and are obliged, to focus on what is essential … the theological spirit of Christmas,” he said.

“Less business, but more religion.”

In the run-up to Christmas, the small Chapel of St. Catherine, adjacent to the Church of the Nativity, was opened to the local Palestinian population.

Many came out in their Sunday best, including Nicolas al-Zoghbi, who said this year the joy of Christmas had been replaced by “depression.”

He recounted the “pain and anguish” felt by those, like his son, who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.

“We hope the Lord will destroy the crown, just get rid of it so we can go back to our previous life,” said Zoghbi, who is 70 years old.

Bethlehem’s economy is fueled in part by an annual Christmas rush that benefits small shops selling postcards, carved olive wood rosaries, and other Nativity-related souvenirs.

Christians in Gaza

Georges Baaboul, sitting in front of his Bethlehem store on a plastic chair, told AFP that “he had not sold anything for nine months.”

“In the last few days I sold around 170 shekels ($ 52)” in goods, he said.

Saif, a merchant in his sixties, said he had never seen such bad things in his 60 years in the business, even during the intifadas.

This year, West Bank merchants cannot even count on Christian customers from Gaza, the Palestinian coastal enclave controlled by the Islamist group Hamas that is under Israeli blockade.

Gaza Christians generally receive a special permit to cross into Bethlehem at Christmas, but this year those permits have not been issued, said Father Youssef Asaad of the Latin monastery in Gaza.

Hamas has imposed strict measures to limit the spread of the virus in the strip, including closing mosques and the Latin Church, but the masses are broadcast online.

Issa Abou George, a Christian Gaza resident, said that he would not be able to buy gifts for his children this year, but will participate in online services.

“My family and I will pray to God for the end of the pandemic and for peace in the Holy Land and in the world,” he told AFP. DC

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