Christmas in Bethlehem

Last year (although only 2 weeks ago) I spent christmas in Bethlehem. It was a very different experience from what I am used to. I have my christmas traditions at home in Norway that are more connected to culture, and here the celebration emphasized on the religious aspects. We did however manage to squeeze in some norwegian traditions as well, and all in all it was a very nice day.
We started the day with a nice breakfast and "Tre nøtter til askepott", the ultimate christmas movie for norwegians. I had to translate the movie to a rather confused Joyce wondering why we watch this czech movie from the 1970s every year.
Then we went to Nativity square for a cup of tea and to see the procession of the patriarch (and the scouts).

We later moved on to the sheperds field to attend the seremony there. Many people had already gathered there, and when we arrived we joined in with the singing.




There were both local and internationals there, and one palestinian priest and one american priest were reading verses from the bible. Being a secular christian I didn't really relate so much to the religious and spiritual part of it, but I did indeed enjoy the atmosphere, the sense of togetherness and the idea of being on the sheperds field in Bethlehem on christmas eve.



After the seremony we went home to have christmas dinner. The dinner itself was a success, and we all ate too much. I think I was 5 months pregnant when I finally finished eating.


After a cup of tea or coffea, opening a couple of christmas gifts and relaxing we went to the nativity church to attend the midnight mass. There were already lots of people there, and we had to stand in line for 30-45 min.

Joyce has her ticket ready


A security control later we entered the church like the rest of the many people coming from all corners of the world. We entered at around 23:00, and we were already quite tired by then. The mass started at around midnight and finished at around 2 a clock am.




Two tired teenagers....


Many tv-channels were also present, so was the palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.


at least he was there somewhere...


At the end of the seremony all the munks and priests walked down the aisle...


....followed by the partiarch himself.


While walking out of the church people joined together in a typical christian song. But when I heard how tone death the lady next to me seemed to be I considered that to be my cue to exit. We quickl found a taxi and went back to our warm apartment for a good night sleep.