Santa scenes

Christmas tree lighting brings holiday cheer to Jerusalem’s Old City

The annual tradition in the Christian quarter sees locals and visitors of all faiths embrace the winter festivities with music, lights and food

Revelers gather to attend a ceremony to light the Christmas tree near the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on December 11, 2022. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
Revelers gather to attend a ceremony to light the Christmas tree near the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on December 11, 2022. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

At the entrance to the Christian Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City, a young woman wore two coverings on her head: a black hijab and on top of that a crimson Santa hat.

The Santa hat and dozens of others just like it were being tossed to the gleeful crowd by a Palestinian man standing on the rooftop of a currency exchange in what is one of the more cosmopolitan sections of the holy city.

Behind him, a massive pine loomed, and the celebrants waited cheek-to cheek in the cobbled thoroughfare with bated breath to see the tree erupt into an array of colors.

For weeks prior to Sunday’s event, festive lights had adorned the Christian quarter, including dangly, plastic icicles with pulsating flashes of white and wall-to-wall strings with spheres of red electric spikes, adding a welcome wintery touch.

Every year the festivities draw hundreds of people — Jerusalemites and foreigners of all faiths — to the Christian quarter. Arabic, Armenian, English and even Hebrew could be heard among the throng.

While most of the attendees had donned festive apparel, the clergy members stuck to their traditional dark tones, representing the diversity of dioceses active in Jerusalem — Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and more.

Fireworks light the sky as revelers gather to attend the lighting of the Christmas tree near the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem on December 11, 2022. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

One figure, in particular, drew the affection of Christians of all stripes. Issa Kassissieh, Jerusalem’s only accredited Santa Claus and a former professional basketball player, weaved his 6-foot-3 (190-centimeter) frame gracefully through the crowd and took pictures with children who delighted in tugging at his billowy prosthetic beard.

While Jerusalem is fought over across sectarian lines, one would have been forgiven for forgetting that fact on this particular Sunday evening with music filling the air and food in abundance.

The soundtrack for the evening was provided by a small choir serenading the audience with such hits as “Jingle Bells,” sung entirely in Arabic. The singing reached its raucous climax at the moment the lights were switched on.

As for the food, options ranged from Palestinian classics to Stollen, a German cake with candied fruit, marzipan and some powdered sugar on top to resemble a dusting of snow.

The Christmas tree at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Centre, a guesthouse for pilgrims, at the St Louis French Hospital in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 11, 2022. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)

Amid the culinary bounty, an American expressed regret that he had come with a full stomach, but he still chatted briefly with a food stall owner standing on the side of the road.

Behind the stall, the American Christmas classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was blaring from a loudspeaker.

“Mariah Carey?” the American asked with a smile.

“Not curry. That’s Indian. This is Palestinian. Spicy but not so spicy,” the chef, his ladle at the ready, responded patiently.

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