Rain. 300 days of sunshine a year. And today it has to rain. The Shepherd Nights' Celebration in Beit-Sahour, just outside of Bethlehem, is tonight. Outside. :( Well by then perhaps the rain will be finished for the day.
4:30pm, Shepherd's Grotto. No rain, but fairly cold, for here. Small, incredibly international group of people. Very interactive worship service with readings and singing in both Arabic and English. (First time ever, I've been singing Silent Night and on my left and right both people were singing in Arabic. Stereo Arabic :) We were all singing to the same tune, just each in his own language. Truly fascinating.
6pm, Brief visit to the introduction of the Shepherd's Nights Festival. Somewhere around 800-900 people, many, many children -- some with their families, some from local schools, and yet others from local orphanages. Wonderful to see this gathering. (Unfortunately, my ride had to leave so I too left early.) Seeing the crowd and the arrangements, however, leaves no doubt there was fun to be had for all.
Scanning the stage prior to the event beginning
Ceremonial Opening by:
Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal (Arabic: رياح حنة ابو العسل
Ellen's Birthday Cake & Christmas cake as well!
7:30pm-12:30am - HUGE dinner gathering, 35-40 people, at Michele's home. His wife had prepared massive amounts of food. Two French guests were visiting, so French was added to the already fluid mix of Arabic and English. Good times, great food, wonderful conversation! As it neared midnight, we watched the Christmas broadcast from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Dignitaries abounded. Cannot even begin to list them all: PNA President Abbas, Prime Minister Fayyad, others from Dubai, consulate ambassadors from many countries among them, and most important from a ceremony perspective: Italy, France, Spain.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment