In the Light, Palestine-Israel: The Holy Fire Comes to Bethlehem

On Holy Saturday, May 4, 2013, the Holy Fire arrived in Beit Sahour from Jerusalem at approximately 3:00 pm. The Holy Fire appears annually at the Church of the Sepulchre in Jerusalem during a special ceremony performed by the Greek Orthodox priests. It is then carried and distributed to all the churches in the West Bank and to other churches in around the Orthodox world.

Thousands of locals and internationals joined in the joyous celebration in front of the Greek Orthodox Church. Local scouts and marching bands created a festive atmosphere.

Beit Sahour is a model of cooperation and brotherhood between Christians and Muslims. Throughout the troubled and turbulent history of the land, the people of Beit Sahour have always stood firm as a united community. Today, Beit Sahour is home to just under 14,000 residents, 80% Christian and 20% Muslim.

Dimitri Diliani, head of the National Christian Coalition in the Holy Land, said Israeli forces deployed heavily in Jerusalem’s Old City. He accused Israel of trying to stop Christians from performing rituals for Holy Saturday and of trying to erase the Christian identity in Jerusalem.

(Drawn from various news sources)

Excerpts from my journal as I explore the situation in Palestine and Israel

May 5, 2013, Sunday, Bethlehem, the Tawil apartment, kitchen table

I engaged in Holy Fire for the second time yesterday, in Beit Sahour (last year in Beit Jala, both villages adjoin Bethlehem), an easy walk from my home near Shepherds’ Fields to where the action would happen. Someone at the market told me to wait at the Hotel Ararat and there I discovered a high vantage point. Altho the building is about 10 stories high only a few levels have finished rooms. So I climbed stairs to the 4^th floor and leaned out a window to show the growing crowds. I then joined in on street level, sauntered back and forth to do my favored grab shot photography (aka hip pocket photography, aka wild mind photography), chatted awhile with a man who splits time between Virginia and Bethlehem (he works for GE medical), and eventually joined the throng to greet the priest with the holy fire.

I observed Muslims along the Holy Fire route, some of them simply watching, another group throwing hard candies at the car with the fire. Whether to honor the tradition or tease the priest I wasn’t sure. We walked by a mosque next to the Greek Orthodox Church. The procession seems a strong sign of religious co existence.

While waiting for the Holy Fire I noticed many drummers playing their instruments, about 6 small groups in my locale, from different bands. They all played separately. No one played together. I remembered drumming circles at home in the States where first one person showed up with a drum, then another, and more, and soon the large group would drum together, drawing more and more people, including dancers and other musicians—a large joyous circle. So I asked the guy from Virginia and Beit Sahour, you’ve lived in both places, ever seen drumming circles in the states?—No.—Could you imagine one?—Yes.—Have you noticed here that no one joins with others to drum?—I have, it is very peculiar.

So I concluded, perhaps prematurely, that this separate drumming mirrors the separateness of some or most of Palestinian society. Coincidently I’ve been reading in the current issue of This Week in Palestine an analysis of separateness, swashbuckling, bravado (shatarah), and impetuousness (nazaqah). Each for oneself and to hell with the rest. Accurate or not? Recent or long-lived? Ali Qliebo in his article, “Bravado, Impetuousness, and Swashbuckling in Palestine Culture,” believes this is recent, an effect of urbanization, and a departure from the relative civility of earlier Ottoman culture. What might this imply for the Palestinian freedom movement?

I begin to feel more of the widespread despair in Palestine. Cars are part of this—zooming thru intersections. The Palestinian news agency I volunteer for is part of this—lack of support for my work. Ayman told me that in Gaza anyone successful would not disclose the method of attaining success because the successful one did not want to share it with others. My host in Bethlehem, Johnny, is an exception in how well he treats me (while perhaps himself in deep despair at his unemployment). Have I been too long in this region, too many times here, time to move on?

Minor coda about Palestinian fashion:

While waiting for the entrance of the Holy Fire I noticed high heels, long shiny straightened black hair, and hooked arms (not only women’s in men’s, but occasionally men’s in women’s). I am well situated to notice such cultural signs. Because I’m out of the culture, everything here is new to me, and because I deeply appreciate some of these traits. Linked arms for instance reminds me of walking with a friend a day or so before my departure. I look forward to walking this way again with her. Very very soon. Too bad we can’t do this via Skype.

TO BE CONTINUED

LINKS

Holy Fire, a believer’s account

Holy Fire, a skeptic’s view

“Bravado, Impetuousness, and Swashbuckling in Palestine Culture,” by Ali Qliebo, This Week in Palestine, May 2013

Beit Sahour

“Palestinian Christians ‘mistreated’ by Israel at Easter celebrations”

Holy Fire Photos from Xinhua/Luay Sababa

“Holy Fire Lights Orthodox Easter In Jerusalem’s Church Of The Holy Sepulchre (VIDEO) (PHOTOS)“

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With an Open Heart: photos & stories from Palestine & Israel: A Tale of Two Fires

Holy Fire in Bethlehem slide show

Excerpts from my journal as I examine and portray the troubles in the Levant

A tale of two fires in the same month, the Holy Fire (or Holy Light, Ἃγιον Φῶς) in Bethlehem during Orthodox Easter which I photographed and now write about, and a lethal house fire in Gaza where I often work. Festive in the first case. Tragic in the second. In Gaza 3 children burned or suffocated to death when a candle ignited fuel stored in their home. Because of a complex of causes involving the Israeli siege and arguments between Hamas, the ruling political party in Gaza, Fatah ruling in the West Bank, and Egypt, fuel for the electricity generating plant in Gaza was scarce. The family had used candles for the first time. Quick and needless death. Pure family tragedy. A great loss. The power of fire.

An active afternoon photographing the entrance to Beit Sahour (part of Bethlehem) of the Holy Fire. The idea, for Greek Orthodox at least, maybe other Orthodox Christian churches as well, is that each year around this time, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher a fire miraculously ignites from the stone on which Christ lay in  tomb. This is understood to be part of his resurrection. It is an element of the Easter story I’d never heard. Orthodox Church leaders then carry the fire to various districts in the West Bank—this is a widespread belief and the fire goes all around the world from Jerusalem, similar to the early Greek marathon fire.

Thousands assembled near the main Greek Orthodox church in Beit Jala, part of Bethlehem where B had invited me to photograph for PNN (Palestine News Network).

First question: when is the fire going to arrive? This could be a long wait. B forecast between 1 and 2 pm, I was on station early, just in case and to survey and absorb the general excitement. Second: where’s the toilet? Third: the sun light, what sort of light and its direction? Leading to a fourth: position, where to place myself? I wandered at ground level first, not sure which direction the parade would come from, and then I moved to a higher platform outside the patriarch’s house where I could survey the crowd, photograph restless kids pestering their parents, and show the assembly as it arrived.

What’s keeping them? Stopped at a checkpoint? No fire this time?

The Miracle of the Holy Fire in Jerusalem by William Holman Hunt ( 1892–1899)

A friendly local woman, short and plump, explained to me the tradition. She also informed me that her sister had married an American, lived in the Boston area, and she now wished to return home more often. Her husband has never visited Palestine, altho he had converted to Orthodox Christianity and now studied for the ministry at Holy Cross College not far from my home in Cambridge Massachusetts. She also guarded my prime location from pushy kids.

Finally, at least 1 hour later than B had predicted, maybe around 3 pm, the procession hiked up the hill. How long had they been walking? No clue? Who are they? Ditto. I did see the fire, carried in a small lantern and in another lantern, much larger, which was periodically hoisted above all heads for all to watch and perhaps venerate—the power of fire, the power of light. By now I was at street level, having dismounted from my perch, able to move out of the crowded porch doorway by following in the wake of a large pushy woman. Initially I crouched and then knelt to make street level views, especially of marching kids, and then stood to notice the entrance of the Holy Fire. I was not more than 3 meters from it and the carriers. With others I then fell in line with the parade and marched to the church.

Everyone tried to crowd into the church. Purpose: to light their fire from the main Holy Fire. I decided I’d probably not be able to easily show this because of the dim light (missed opportunity?) and crowds, and decided my first priority was a hamaam, or toilet. Which I easily found and used.

B called to ask how I was, I could not hear him clearly because of the roaring din encircling me—songs, shouts, rifle fire, bells, crying. I found new positions, usually high, and photographed believers leaving the church, candles and lanterns alight.

All in a day’s work. Much different from today, should I decide to try to cover the Welcome to Israel Campaign as activists attempt to enter the West Bank at the invitation of local organizations, including some in Bethlehem. Should I be at the airport for the big confrontation, expect to be blocked from entering the airport, let alone find a good position like the ones I had yesterday, or even reach the airport? Should I remain in Bethlehem rather than travel thru the Valley of Fire to Ramallah for Quaker Meeting with the possibility that a few do get thru tight security so I can show them greeted in Bethlehem by the likes of Mazin Qumsiyeh? Might something happen in Ramallah? Or should I concentrate on my usual Sunday activities and attend Quaker meeting?

LINKS

Three children killed in Gaza fire amid power cuts

Holy Fire

Miracle of the Holy Fire (opinion by Maria C. Khoury)

Orthodox Easter: Fire Ritual At Church of the Holy Sepulcher Celebrates Life And Resurrection Of Jesus (PHOTOS)

Holy Fire Saturday Demonstration in Bethlehem 28 March 2010

William Holman Hunt’s view of The Holy Fire

Church Leaders Open letter to Michael Oren ahead of Easter

Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians by Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States

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