BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories – Deprived of its usual tourist influx by 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 normal year, hundreds of thousands of visitors flood the Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, located less than 10 kilometres from Jerusalem. Those seeking a quiet moment of contemplation in the Church of Nativity — the site of Christ’s birth according to Christians– generally have to use their elbows to manoeuvre through the crowds. While the lack of visitors has been devastating for business owners, it has also offered a rare opportunity for solemn worship, said Father Rami Asakrieh, Bethlehem’s parish priest. A Palestinian shop-owner arranges christmas decorations at her shop in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. (AFP)
“Sometimes there are more than half million people who arrive in this period to visit the Nativity Church,” he told AFP. But with coronavirus restrictions making travel to Bethlehem all but impossible for foreign worshippers, the Church of the Nativity has been eerily calm in the days before Christmas. Under the Grotto of the Nativity, the recitation of Armenian prayers by four monks echoed clearly through the basilica deserted of its typical throngs of visitors. The Christmas Eve mass on Thursday, regarded as the most important annual event at the church, will be closed to the public.
– Never happened before’ –
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 that this Christmas is different because people are not busy with the external manifestations of the feast,” the priest said, referring to the gift-buying that has, for many, become synonymous with Christmas.
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Harrison Okafor
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Judith is a believer, a lover of Christ and a Gospel freak person. A passionate gospel blogger and press writer. I work with GospelHitsNaija.net Media, no 1 Gospel music platform.
