Christmas markets and festive villages aren't only a European pastime. The Arab world is also home to an array of customs owing to its Christian communities, with some traditions harking back to the early years of the faith.
This week, streets in the Lebanese city of Batroun are festooned with lights and colours to celebrate the festive season. This includes the 300-year-old Arnaoon Village, an eco-resort that recently reopened its Christmas Village, which has been running for nearly 20 years.
The fabric of seasonal events across the Middle East, while locally minded, reflect the region’s place in the wider Christian community.
From Palestine to Iraq, here's a look at Christmas traditions in the region.
Lebanon
Home to the largest Christian population in the Arab world, Lebanon celebrates Christmas not only as a religious holiday, but also as a nationally visible cultural season.
The occasion combines church services with local custom such as midnight mass at the Patriarchal Seat in Bkerke in the north-east of Beirut, traditionally attended by senior clergy and political figures, plus Christmas markets and tree-lighting ceremonies in city centres.
Seasonal markets and concerts are regularly staged in downtown Beirut, while the city of Byblos hosts one of the country’s most prominent Christmas programmes, centred on its historic port and main square.
Palestine
With the city of Bethlehem traditionally recognised as the birthplace of Jesus, Christmas observances in the city have long been a point of reference, both regionally and internationally.
In the run-up to Christmas, public gatherings include scout parades and marching bands at Manger Square, before a solemn midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity, which often welcomes worshippers from around the world.
With the city home to various Christian denominations that observe the festival on different dates, the reflective atmosphere extends beyond December.
Egypt
The country is home to the Coptic Orthodox Church, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with traditions harking back more than two millennia to the earliest centuries of Christianity.
Christmas celebrations continue until January 7, which is designated a public holiday. Owing to the Julian calendar, the season is preceded by a 43-day Nativity Fast, requiring abstention from meat, dairy and eggs, and ends with midnight mass across the country, including at the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Egypt’s new administrative capital, in the desert east of Cairo.
Christmas Day often ends with a festive meal marking the end of the fast, with dishes including fatta (rice, bread and meat in garlic and tomato sauce), macarona bil-bechamel, roasted meats, grape leaves and the sweet biscuit ka’ak.
Jordan
Jordan is regarded as one of the longest-inhabited countries made up of Christian communities in the region, and is home to towns and ruins of historical and spiritual significance.
Christmas Day typically includes a midnight mass, followed by family gatherings and parish initiatives that emphasise community bonds.
Syria
In Damascus, Christmas celebrations are centred in the Bab Touma and Bab Sharqi districts, where churches such as Mariamite Cathedral (seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch) host Christmas services and nativity prayers. This is followed by family visits in the surrounding Christian Quarter, one of the city's oldest districts.
In the mountain town of Maaloula, one of the few places where Western Aramaic is still spoken, services are held in local churches reflecting the town’s deep Christian heritage. In parts of Wadi al-Nasara (Valley of the Christians), Christmas Eve is marked by church-led gatherings and, in some communities, the lighting of small bonfires as a seasonal custom.
Iraq
Iraq’s Chaldean and Assyrian Christian communities maintain traditions rooted in Mesopotamia’s early Christian history, including the continued use of Syriac, one of Christianity’s oldest liturgical languages.
Christmas combines church services with local customs, such as community gatherings and nativity plays, while bonfires made from dried thorn branches are lit on Christmas Eve as a symbolic ritual. Families gather afterwards to share festive foods, including date-filled kleicha cookies.
