Bethlehem
I wish I had made some sort of goal to see all the Christian holy sites in Israel beforehand, because I think one trip to Nazareth and I'd be set. And then I'd have a good feeling of accomplishing a goal. Anna and I were in Bethlehem on Saturday picking out a shirt for her to wear to the party that night and we decided to swing into the Church of the Nativity on a whim. I didn't even know it was nearby. Well, obviously I knew it was in Bethlehem, but I didn't think we were that close.
The old, historical part of the church is smaller and more well-lit than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and much more uniform on the decorating front, but still in the same style as the Holy Sepulchre. Big hanging golden lamps (which Anna still hates) marble columns, and mosaics on the walls that looked much older and more faded and indistinct than the ones in the CHS. There were a lot of cool little underground caverns with tiny altars or even sometimes small rooms cut out of the rock that had chairs and a pulpit, like they were going to hold a really cramped service in there. One had a stained-glass window and another mosaic on the wall, although it couldn't have been bigger than 100 square feet. I asked about one of the caverns that had a bunch of little trails leading out from it, and she said she thinks that during some plague a long time ago the priests buried childrens' bones in there. That's the kind of thing you should tell a person before they go and put their hands all over the rocks.
The newer part of the church, where they actually hold services, is much more modern and airy, with a huge stained glass window in the back and an organ. Not overly unusual, except for the random stairs on the side of the aisles that lead to underground caverns.
Walking through Bethlehem we had to step aside while a bunch of protestors came marching through, carrying flags and chanting in Arabic. They were protesting the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza in the past few days. There weren't that many of them, but since these protests are apparently not an unusual occurence at all, I suppose you can't get the whole city out every time it happens. There were even a few women marching in the back, head coverings and all. I mention that just so that Kristy can get pissed off about the marching in he back part. :)
The old, historical part of the church is smaller and more well-lit than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and much more uniform on the decorating front, but still in the same style as the Holy Sepulchre. Big hanging golden lamps (which Anna still hates) marble columns, and mosaics on the walls that looked much older and more faded and indistinct than the ones in the CHS. There were a lot of cool little underground caverns with tiny altars or even sometimes small rooms cut out of the rock that had chairs and a pulpit, like they were going to hold a really cramped service in there. One had a stained-glass window and another mosaic on the wall, although it couldn't have been bigger than 100 square feet. I asked about one of the caverns that had a bunch of little trails leading out from it, and she said she thinks that during some plague a long time ago the priests buried childrens' bones in there. That's the kind of thing you should tell a person before they go and put their hands all over the rocks.
The newer part of the church, where they actually hold services, is much more modern and airy, with a huge stained glass window in the back and an organ. Not overly unusual, except for the random stairs on the side of the aisles that lead to underground caverns.
Walking through Bethlehem we had to step aside while a bunch of protestors came marching through, carrying flags and chanting in Arabic. They were protesting the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza in the past few days. There weren't that many of them, but since these protests are apparently not an unusual occurence at all, I suppose you can't get the whole city out every time it happens. There were even a few women marching in the back, head coverings and all. I mention that just so that Kristy can get pissed off about the marching in he back part. :)
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