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What are Palestine’s unique Christmas rituals, disrupted by Israel’s war?

Through carols, cookies and Christmas lights, December 25 is marked by jubilation and celebration of the birth of Jesus for more than 2 billion Christians worldwide.

However, a silent night falls on the 50,000 Christians in Palestine – a number that is in rapid decline.

The safety of Christians in Palestine was shaken by the bombardment of Gaza’s oldest Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in October, which killed at least 18 people including children. Israeli forces also shot and killed an elderly Christian mother and her daughter in a Catholic church in Gaza on Saturday.

This year, the many gleeful rituals that characterise Christmas in Palestine will be replaced by simpler ceremonies, mourning and prayer, shining a harsh light on the current reality of the region. The Lutheran Church, for instance, has the Baby Jesus in a manger of rubble and destruction.

Was Jesus Palestinian?

Many Christian schools of thought believe that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the now Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“Jesus was born on our side of the wall,” Palestinian pastor Reverend Munther Isaac told Al Jazeera.

Isaac added that the narrative of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is backed by archaeology as well as scripture such as Luke’s Gospel.

“It’s the year 2023, and you’ve got, on Christmas day, all over the world, millions of, so many, hundreds of millions, if not more, of Christians going to church, reading about Bethlehem, singing about Bethlehem and thinking maybe of Bethlehem as a mythical place, as a fairytale, not realising it’s a real place with people, with a Christian community that has kept the tradition alive for 2,000 years.”

What is the story of Christmas?

“While the family of Jesus lived in Nazareth back then, they travelled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for that [census] registration,” Isaac narrated, with thoughtful pauses between his sentences.

Isaac drew parallels between the story of the birth of Jesus and the current situation in Palestine.

“We’ve always been under empires. We’ve always been displaced,” said Isaac, explaining that Jesus was born when Palestine was under the Roman empire.

An imperial decree of the empire ordered the family of Jesus to register for the census in Bethlehem, added Reverend Mitri Raheb, another Palestinian pastor from Bethlehem. King Herod ordered the massacre of infant boys, leading to the family of Jesus escaping to Egypt as refugees, explained Isaac.

An Israeli border policeman stands guard on Christmas Eve December 24, 2004 at the checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Bethlehem where a sign welcomes visitors to the biblical town of Jesus's birth. The Israeli army says it is doing its utmost to promote the holiday spirit and that for the first time in more than a year, it has given Palestinian police in Bethlehem permission to carry weapons so that they can handle security inside the city.
An Israeli border policeman stands guard on Christmas Eve December 24, 2004, at the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem where a sign welcomes visitors to the biblical town of Jesus’s birth [David Silverman/Getty Images]

According to the Bible, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and then placed in a manger. The Church of Nativity was built at this location and its grotto holds great religious significance, pulling Christians from all over the world into the city of Bethlehem every Christmas.

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The procession of the patriarchs

One of the most important Christmas rituals in Palestine is the procession of the patriarch from Jerusalem. This procession takes place on December 24 for Catholics and January 6 for Orthodox patriarchs.

The designated procession route that has been followed throughout the Ottoman Empire and the British mandate is now engraved in tradition, Isaac explained. The patriarch is received from Jerusalem in Bethlehem and then the procession walks through the streets of the old town in Bethlehem until it reaches the Church of Nativity, where prayers are held.

Israeli authorities and Palestinian police escort the procession, depending on the territory the procession passes through.

Palestinian Christian altar boys and Palestinian police wait the arrival of the Latin Patriarch, Michel Sabbah, during the annual Christmas Eve procession December 24, 2003 in Manger Square in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. The biblical town, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, faces yet another gloomy Christmas in the face of more than three years of Palestinian-Israeli violent conflict.
Palestinian Christian altar boys and Palestinian police wait for the arrival of the Latin Patriarch, Michel Sabbah, during the annual Christmas Eve procession December 24, 2003 in Manger Square in Bethlehem  [David Silverman/Getty Images]

The arrival of the procession is a celebrated festivity, welcomed by several scout groups and musical bands from all over Palestine. People leave their homes to walk around the city and witness the spirit of Christmas.

This year, the bands and scouts will not be present, instead, the procession will be silent.

A Palestinian man holds on a golden crucifix as he waits alongside posters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 24, 2001 during the traditional Christmas eve procession.
A Palestinian man holds a golden crucifix as he waits alongside posters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem December 24, 2001, during the traditional Christmas Eve procession [David Silverman/Getty Images]

Midnight mass and Manger Square

Once the procession reaches the church, prayers begin at 5pm local time and last until midnight, with the midnight mass being broadcast for the world to see, Raheb said.

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal carries a baby Jesus following the Christmas midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity December 25, 2008 in Bethlehem, West Bank. Thousands of the faithful flocked to Bethlehem today, as the biblical birthplace of Jesus Christ hoping for a better Christmas after years of deadly violence.
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal carries a doll of the baby Jesus following the Christmas midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity, December 25, 2008 in Bethlehem [Musa Al-Shaer-Pool/Getty Images]

The Manger Square in Bethlehem is also decorated with a large Christmas tree and performances are held there. This year, there is no Christmas tree at Manger Square. Instead, “the civil society and some artists are working on a new kind of crib that is made out of rubble as a sign to what’s happening in Gaza”, said Raheb. He added that a video will be screened on the wall of the Nativity Church, showing what is happening in Gaza.

A general view of Manger Square, outside the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, is seen on Christmas eve in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
This 2012 photo shows a crowd gathering around a brightly lit Christmas tree at the Manger Square [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

As a child, Isaac would excitedly visit Jerusalem with his parents for Christmas shopping. Several markets sell festive clothes and decorations for the holiday season. It is a tradition to buy the best clothes from Jerusalem and save them for Christmas.

“You know how in America you go to a big mall? We used to go to Jerusalem. We can’t any more,” Isaac said, alluding to the stringent permit rules in the region, which constrict the mobility of Palestinians.

Christmas is a time when families meet, in Palestine and elsewhere. While family could mean a small group of immediate relatives in the West, “When I say ‘family’ in Bethlehem, I say all 200 or so members of the Isaac family in our town – the clan,” said Isaac.

Hassan Abu Hillail, a 40-year-old Palestinian Christian shopkeeper, who dresses up as Santa Claus to try and drum up business, greets Palestinians passing his shop near the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
Hassan Abu Hillail, a 40-year-old Palestinian Christian shopkeeper, dressed as Santa Claus to try and drum up business, greets Palestinians passing his shop near the Church of the Nativity in December 2005 [David Silverman/Getty Images]

After an initial large gathering of all family members, individual homes are visited. Feasts of rice and meat are enjoyed and homemade desserts and delicacies are exchanged. These include ka’ek, or ma’amoul – semolina shortbread cookies filled with dates or nuts.

Large Christmas trees are a cynosure in every church, where parties and banquets are organised. This year, the parties have been cancelled and “no one is in the mood to … decorate a Christmas tree”, Isaac said.

A poster of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat vies for space with Christmas decorations for sale at a toy and novelty shop December 12, 2004 in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
A poster of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat vies for space with Christmas decorations for sale at a toy and novelty shop, in December 2004 in Bethlehem [David Silverman/Getty Images]

Do Muslims celebrate Christmas in Palestine?

Isaac explained that Christmas is a national holiday for all Palestinians, not just a Christian holiday. The Palestinian Authority considers it a national holiday and government offices are typically closed on Christmas day.

Several Palestinian Muslims visit Bethlehem on Christmas to attend the parade and take pictures with the Christmas tree.

“Jesus was from Bethlehem, after all. And this means a lot to us as Palestinians,” said Isaac.

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