Letter from Palestine, 19. Christmas again.
8th January 2005
Dear friends!
So far it seems that 2005 will be an exciting year, at least the first months which I will spend here in Palestine. I have at last registered for an Arabic course, at the British Council in Jerusalem. I had it recommended by one in the church, and I think the information is right; that they have fun in the class. The teacher seemed to be inspiring and good when I went for the registration. It is also decided that I will work some days a week in Ramallah; Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. In addition I have done some useful work here at the office in Jerusalem, with registering donors for the olive tree campaign. If this will continue, it is good. Internet is though not cooperating very well this year, so I do not know when I will be able to send this, I might go to an Internet café to try.
Thursday was the Epiphany. I can not remember having celebrated it much in Norway. But here it was a feast, with Eucharist and anniversary for the bishop, and we wished each other “Happy Epiphany!” I have never done that in Norwegian, but I think the English version was good, so I think I will adopt that. So Happy Epiphany to all of you a couple of days too late!
Now we have had Christmas again. The Orthodox Christmas has never had very much of my attention earlier. I have not been a place with so many Orthodox Christians in Christmastime before. The Orthodox Christmas follows the Julian calendar, which is 13 days after our calendar, it means that Christmas Eve is 6th January and Christmas Day 7th January, according to our calendar. With the unique chance to experience the Orthodox Christmas, I went to Bethlehem after the Anglican celebration of Epiphany on Thursday.
Outside the Church of the Nativity I talked with a tourist guide. When he understood that I had seen most of the places before, he asked if I wanted to see the shop of his family. I joined him, and met a shop made to a “social place”, as they called it. I got tea and suddenly had a place to spend the night before the midnight mass. The shopkeeper told that they had opened this big souvenir shop two months before the Intifada started more than four years ago. Earlier they had a small shop, but with a good sale, they wanted to expand. But with the Intifada the tourists stopped coming, and the place became more a gathering spot for local and international people living there. The American woman Methodist pastor, who ministers in the Lutheran church in Bethlehem, is often there. She had visitors from USA, and the children did what they could to assist with the sale by standing outside the shop with posters they wanted to sell. It made probably no big sale, but it was an encouragement, both for us visiting and for the hosts.
When it was almost 10.00 PM, I went to the Church of the Nativity. It was not as full as for the Catholic Mass thirteen days earlier. But more people came closer to midnight. There were two liturgies going on at the same time, a Coptic Orthodox and a Greek Orthodox. It means, the Coptic seemed to be two liturgies alone, changing between to altars, always somebody reading or chanting by both. Most people followed the Greek Orthodox. It was also a long Greek procession, with many priests, and delegates from other denominations behind. I experienced both liturgies. I did not understand much of any of them, but I found it exciting to have some experience of both.
That I did not understand much might have helped me to make the experience so special. The Christmas celebration I am used to is in many ways made very romantic, with the sweet Christ child in the crib and all the kind people around. That it is really God lying there smiling is difficult to imagine. With all the symbols I do not understand, with all the impressions, processions, the chanting, the incense and the people, the mystery of the incarnation, that God was made flesh, is conserved. The incarnation is something I do not understand, something that should be a mystery, and which remains just a mystery by these Orthodox liturgies.
When it was past 3.00 AM, I decided to leave. I had been told that the Church would close at 3.00, but it was certainly not right. I had no idea how long they then would continue, and the receptionist had been told that I would come when it was finished, before 3.00. He also said I was “too much late” when I came…
The last Christmas celebration is in 10 days. 18th and 19th January is the Armenian Christmas. But in between and after that I can also experience the Orthodox and Armenian New Year and Epiphany, so it is just to follow up!
Tomorrow we have the presidential election here. It will be interesting to see how a Palestinian election will be in East Jerusalem. The result might not be very exciting, I have not heard of anybody thinking another than Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) will win, but the mood and surrounding is worth experiencing. Good election!
More Christmas greetings from Hanne.
Dear friends!
So far it seems that 2005 will be an exciting year, at least the first months which I will spend here in Palestine. I have at last registered for an Arabic course, at the British Council in Jerusalem. I had it recommended by one in the church, and I think the information is right; that they have fun in the class. The teacher seemed to be inspiring and good when I went for the registration. It is also decided that I will work some days a week in Ramallah; Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. In addition I have done some useful work here at the office in Jerusalem, with registering donors for the olive tree campaign. If this will continue, it is good. Internet is though not cooperating very well this year, so I do not know when I will be able to send this, I might go to an Internet café to try.
Thursday was the Epiphany. I can not remember having celebrated it much in Norway. But here it was a feast, with Eucharist and anniversary for the bishop, and we wished each other “Happy Epiphany!” I have never done that in Norwegian, but I think the English version was good, so I think I will adopt that. So Happy Epiphany to all of you a couple of days too late!
Now we have had Christmas again. The Orthodox Christmas has never had very much of my attention earlier. I have not been a place with so many Orthodox Christians in Christmastime before. The Orthodox Christmas follows the Julian calendar, which is 13 days after our calendar, it means that Christmas Eve is 6th January and Christmas Day 7th January, according to our calendar. With the unique chance to experience the Orthodox Christmas, I went to Bethlehem after the Anglican celebration of Epiphany on Thursday.
Outside the Church of the Nativity I talked with a tourist guide. When he understood that I had seen most of the places before, he asked if I wanted to see the shop of his family. I joined him, and met a shop made to a “social place”, as they called it. I got tea and suddenly had a place to spend the night before the midnight mass. The shopkeeper told that they had opened this big souvenir shop two months before the Intifada started more than four years ago. Earlier they had a small shop, but with a good sale, they wanted to expand. But with the Intifada the tourists stopped coming, and the place became more a gathering spot for local and international people living there. The American woman Methodist pastor, who ministers in the Lutheran church in Bethlehem, is often there. She had visitors from USA, and the children did what they could to assist with the sale by standing outside the shop with posters they wanted to sell. It made probably no big sale, but it was an encouragement, both for us visiting and for the hosts.
When it was almost 10.00 PM, I went to the Church of the Nativity. It was not as full as for the Catholic Mass thirteen days earlier. But more people came closer to midnight. There were two liturgies going on at the same time, a Coptic Orthodox and a Greek Orthodox. It means, the Coptic seemed to be two liturgies alone, changing between to altars, always somebody reading or chanting by both. Most people followed the Greek Orthodox. It was also a long Greek procession, with many priests, and delegates from other denominations behind. I experienced both liturgies. I did not understand much of any of them, but I found it exciting to have some experience of both.
That I did not understand much might have helped me to make the experience so special. The Christmas celebration I am used to is in many ways made very romantic, with the sweet Christ child in the crib and all the kind people around. That it is really God lying there smiling is difficult to imagine. With all the symbols I do not understand, with all the impressions, processions, the chanting, the incense and the people, the mystery of the incarnation, that God was made flesh, is conserved. The incarnation is something I do not understand, something that should be a mystery, and which remains just a mystery by these Orthodox liturgies.
When it was past 3.00 AM, I decided to leave. I had been told that the Church would close at 3.00, but it was certainly not right. I had no idea how long they then would continue, and the receptionist had been told that I would come when it was finished, before 3.00. He also said I was “too much late” when I came…
The last Christmas celebration is in 10 days. 18th and 19th January is the Armenian Christmas. But in between and after that I can also experience the Orthodox and Armenian New Year and Epiphany, so it is just to follow up!
Tomorrow we have the presidential election here. It will be interesting to see how a Palestinian election will be in East Jerusalem. The result might not be very exciting, I have not heard of anybody thinking another than Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) will win, but the mood and surrounding is worth experiencing. Good election!
More Christmas greetings from Hanne.
posted by Hanne at 2:56 PM
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