For many, the Christmas and end-of-year period is a time for family and friends to come together. For adherents of the Christian faith, its religious significance is singular. But the deeper message of the Christmas story – which tells of the birth of Jesus – has universal themes. It tells of a vulnerable, exiled family having a baby amid occupation and oppression.
Such resilience will be on display today as Christian communities in Palestine celebrate the birth of Jesus in trying circumstances. In Gaza, despite the ceasefire reached in October, traditional rituals still have to be stripped down to their essentials – prayer, Mass and reflection. There are no decorations and no outdoor ceremonies. Nevertheless, some in the enclave’s small Christian congregation, such as 12-year-old Maryam Terzi, are looking to the future, telling The National: "I hope we can be happy again. I hope life returns. I hope we can light the Christmas tree.”
In many countries across the Middle East, Christians celebrate this important feast. Many do so as a matter of course, their place in the region anchored in its culture and traditions.
In Iraq, for example, Chaldean and Assyrian Christians maintain traditions that are rooted in Mesopotamia’s early history. In many Gulf countries, Christmas celebrations are not just tolerated but embraced as an important time of the year for expatriate communities.
A core part of the Christmas story is the humanitarian message it carries. In Lebanon, philanthropy is an integral part of Christmas, with an annual concert raising funds for elderly Lebanese artists, as well as Les Restaurants du Coeur, a charity that provides daily meals to families in need. Lebanon, along with fellow Muslim-majority country Turkey, is also marking its first Christmas since Pope Leo XIV’s official visit earlier this month.
That visit, the first by the newly elected head of the Catholic Church, underlined the importance of Christianity in the region that gave rise to it. The Middle East remains a diverse place but one that also faces many difficult challenges.
In Syria, June’s bomb and gun attack by extremists on Mar Elias Church in Damascus that killed at least 20 people and injured 54, was a horrific example of the violence too often faced by Christians and other communities. One year since the fall of the Bashar Al Assad regime, the interim government’s security forces will be on alert today to protect Christmas celebrations in the capital and other parts of the country.
Such protection is sadly lacking in other parts of the region. In the occupied West Bank, Christian towns and villages still face attacks from violent Israeli settlers and indifference from the country’s security forces. In Taybeh, a majority-Christian village, two Christmas trees stand metres from where Jewish settlers this summer attacked agricultural land next to a centuries-old church. Bethlehem, the town of Jesus’s birth, has faced similar problems. Its mayor, Maher Nicola Canawati, told Pope Leo during a meeting earlier this year that the number of Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land was now only 168,000. “That by itself shows how much pressure there is on the Christians,” Mr Canawati said.
Such injustice was something that the infant Jesus was born into. Although many people across the world will celebrate this feast in safety with their loved ones, it is worth remembering the fortitude that is at the heart of the nativity story and how some Christians take inspiration from it today.
