New site address

Hello everybody!

Bethlehem changed the address 😉 You will find it now on http://yourbethlehem.com/

See you!

S y l w i a

Bethlehem is like the Moon

The Moon is so obvious. It’s known all over the world. We have so many stories about it, we have thousands of names for it and actually we don’t pay attention on it anymore.

But how is it possible, that this obvious Moon, known to everyobody is in the same time so mysterious? Why it shows to us always but one face and the other one seems to be so dark?

Well, it’s not dark actually. We just don’t see it. And we don’t know it.

Who lives in the Holy Land?

I haven’t visited all the countries in the world but I’m sure of one thing. The Holy Land is one of the most diverse regions which you can imagine. Full stop.

The most bizarre thing, though, is that this diversity is comically disproportionate to the little area of the country. Sometimes it makes you go to sleep with a headache or just ask yourself “how am I supposed not to get crazy here?” – whatever you see, you can see the opposite also.

Morning prayer in Nativity Cave and… “see you in Heaven!”

I could start this post with “I wake up early and…”, but in fact I didn’t have to get up early. I got dressed, tried to comb my naughty hair and went out. Which time already? I’ve walked this way many times before. So I walk though still empty market, next to slowly opening little shops, some random people and I get to Church of the Cradle – the Nativity Church in Bethlehem.

Century confusion

Hmmm… No idea how to start. There’s been some little changes in my life in those days. Want some good news? I’ve got engaged! That’s a completely new feeling and my new dreams don’t let me focus sometimes… But despite that I’ve decided to write to you! Today I would like to talk about… time.

I’ll start with something which is known for everybody (because of a stereotype) – arabic sense of time. What does it mean? “Take it easy!” Did you manage today? Wonderful! You didn’t? No problem! Bus schedule? What for? Just wait – maybe 5 minutes, maybe half an hour. Someone would say that you can’t ever be efficient in such system but also… you are not a prisoner of your watch. This attitude therefore has – as everything – its pros and cons. But that’s not all.

Bethlehem trinkets

In some churches in the Holy Land (if just old enough) you can find crosses engraved in the walls (no idea how). Each one of them, although silent, bears a story of… the Pilgrim. Yes, those crosses are engraved in the walls by pilgrims who have been coming here since a long time. Each one of them hides a prayer, a story or the difficulties of travel, tears and smiles.

But a lots of pilgrims not only bring their prayers to the Holy Land, they would also like to brink something back home. Something which would stay with  them and remind them about this special journey, a symbol. Well, there are many! And beautiful ones!

One of them is the Jerusalem Cross, although characteristic not only of Jerusalem itself, you can find it from Judea up to Galilee – its shoulders are of the same lenght and have a little cross in each of four corners. It symbolizes the five wounds of Jesus (four small crosses are His arms and legs, the big one is his body). But that’s not all! Some necklace versions… open and then the little crosses symbolize the four corners of the world. Means… how the Christianity spread from Jerusalem to all over the world.

Jerusalem Cross

four corners of the world

There is also another symbol very similar to this one – the Bethlehem Star. Would you let her become your compass (or – for some of us – GPS)? It looks a bit like a cross also but in fact it’s a symbol of the Nativity town.

Bethlehem Star

Do you like legends? I don’t know many, but there is one which is omnipresent in the Arabic world – the one about King Salomong and Queen of Saba. Saba was a kingdom which existed a long time before Christ in the region of todays Yemen. Today it doesn’t exist any more but it’s still alive in the peoples imagination. Anyway, the Queen visited King Salomon, who offered her the jewellery of malachite stone! This green or blue stone is definitely something you would love to have to remember about the Holy Land!

And I will try to bring you more details of the legend.

 

 

Pomegranate in Arabic church

A few-hours long feast liturgy amongst louder and louder songs. Why do they keep singing louder? What do the candles in the sand mean? Who can receive Communion?

Legend of St. George… in the street!

First of all, while walking down the streets of the Old Town in Bethlehem it’s easy to get lost. Well, it’s not a maze but – as in any other Arabic town – it’s full of stairs, narrow passages and winding streets.

When I came there for the first time, I was astonished by two things. It’s empty. Maybe one small restaurant. One little workshop with wooden souvenirs. Sometimes you can meet an old man passing slowly before reaching the market – a bit more crowded. Many houses in Bethlehem are marked – some of them with a cross, others with basmala (Muslim expression meaning “In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful”. But you can also see an icon of a knight on a horse with a dragon at his foot. Who is that?

A hundred years old book

Christian tradition in Bethlehem is as old as the Christianity itself – it may go without saying. But this once forgotten village, the town of King Dawid, which offered Jesus Christ just an empty grotto today has become a point of contact for thousands of traditions, customs, religions and views.

In the eyes of two children

A child in Europe

In the beginning there was a magical imaginary village of Bethlehem, so childish and close, though far away. Domasticated, adorned with cotton wool in the parish church, as if it was really full of snow on the birth of Jesus.

Then there was a religion class and a lot of new names. Jerusalem, Nazareth, Egypt, Jordan River… And in spring, during Easter – a movie in the television – Middle East landscapes, desert, apostles with beard and John the Baptist dressed with a strange, single robe. And burning sun.

 Then a Mass – and a lot of other stories. Those abote the Galilee in the north, Judea in the south and Samaria in between. Those of Golgotha and reaping the water from well. Palestine in the times of Jesus, pictured in the imagination of thousands of Christian children around the world.

In the evening, after dinner, parents were again wathing boring news, incomprehensible for a child. Gaza Strip? Is it a place where they extract gas? Embargo? What a funny word. Bomb attack? It must be somewhere far away from here! The pope prays for peace in the Holy Land? And why for peace? Shouldn’t it be peaceful already? They closed the airport in Tel Aviv? Arabs are protesting against the Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem? I don’t understand. Well, this “Jerusalem” sounds kind of familiar though. Religion classes. I’m going to sleep.