How Christmas will be celebrated in Bethlehem, the place of Christ's birth. Public festivities were interrupted for two years because of the war
To the sound of bagpipes and drums, Palestinian scouts marched through the streets of Bethlehem on Wednesday, kicking off the first festive Christmas celebration organized since the beginning of the Gaza war in the West Bank city, the cradle of Christianity, reports AFP, taken over by Agerpres.
Thousands of kilometers away, Pope Leo XIV will officiate on Wednesday evening, at the Vatican, the first Christmas Mass during his pontificate, at St. Peter's Basilica. The Pope would focus his homily on peace and fraternity, after another year marked by conflicts.
In Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Christmas celebrations for the past two years have been overshadowed by the deadly and devastating war unleashed in Gaza by the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
In solidarity with the Palestinians in the territory, the festivities were cancelled, but the huge Christmas tree, decorated with red and gold globes, was lit again at the beginning of December in front of the Church of the Nativity. This joy was possible thanks to the very fragile truce in force in Gaza for over two months.
“Before we couldn't celebrate”
Hundreds of people filled the city streets on Wednesday to watch the scouts' parade in the emblematic Iesle Square, singing traditional carols.
“You can really feel that Christmas has arrived,” happily declared 17-year-old Milagros Anstas in his blue and yellow uniform. “It's a day full of joy, because before we couldn't celebrate because of the war,” he added to AFP.
For 18-year-old Katiab Amaya, these festivities are synonymous with “hope”. In the Middle East, “there are still Christians who celebrate, and we keep the traditions,” she testified.
As in other Middle Eastern countries, Christians are a minority in the Holy Land, with a community of 185,000 in Israel and 47,000 in the Palestinian territories.
In spite of the festive spirit that reigns in the city, the municipality of Bethlehem sought to somehow moderate the splendor of the holidays. Because, despite the truce, the Palestinians in Gaza are still affected by a severe humanitarian crisis. The vast majority of the 2.2 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, often displaced by the conflict, have lost everything. And hundreds of thousands still live in tents, helpless against the winter rains.
Liturgy officiated by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
The residents of the Gaza Strip are “living in survival mode”, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, emphasized on Monday, upon his return from Gaza, where he celebrated a Christmas Mass with the small Christian community. This visit made him feel “the desire to return to a normal life” in Gaza, he said.
Pizzaballa will officiate the traditional midnight liturgy, Wednesday, in Bethlehem, at the Church of the Nativity, built in the 4th century over the cave where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus was born, more than 2,000 years ago.
The city, whose economy depends almost entirely on tourism, is delighted to welcome pilgrims and visitors after the crises caused by the war, but also by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“All these obstacles have been removed this year,” said George Hanna, who comes from the neighboring town of Beit Jala. “I hope we can celebrate, make sure the little ones are happy. That's why we're here,” he added.
