Christmas Eve / Manger Square

24/12/08
It was after Mass at Shepherds' Field that we drove onto Manger Square to soak in the festivities of the season. I heard that many were standing around waiting for the mid-night Mass to start in the churches around the area. Here I let the pics do the talking .....

Christmas Eve / Shepherds' Field

24/12/08
So we arrived at Shepherds' Field to celebrate Mass in a cave that was booked in advance for this purpose. The place was crowded with people as there were many such caves for pilgrims to celebrate Mass here. Our Mass at our cave was celebrated with an incident that marred the spirit of the joyous ocassion. Our tour director Tom Fernandez had the unhappy experience of encountering a meanie German Priest .... however by the grace of God, the incident was resolved with our Mass being celebrated first in good time.

We were tired as we had a full day ... Megan and Justin zonked out during Mass LOL

Christmas Eve

24/12/08
When we entered Bethleham, these are the high walls we first faced at the military checkpoint.
I heard that Bethleham is a walled up city and here I saw the gigantic concrete walls and the graffiti on them. Many locals are not happy with the walls being erected but they have to accept it. When these gigantic concrete walls were erected, I heard that many ancient olive trees were also destroyed.
Not all tourists are able to visit Bethleham freely cos' I heard that certain groups were turned back because of the absence of a Spiritual Director with the group.

This evening being Christmas Eve, we had a surprise from the military personnels that came on board to check the bus. This is the usual practise that whenever a tour bus enters Bethleham on Christmas Eve, the military personnels passed out Christmas pressies to us tourists. It is a nice gesture on the part of the Israeli government to give sweets to visitors in the Holy Land.

A sweet package pressie from the Israeli Government containing .... lollipops, chocolates and sour candies .... and a tag wishing visitors a Merry Christmas!

Shepherd's Field

23/12/08
Late afternoon and we entered Shepherd's Field some 3 km east of Bethleham. It was here that an Angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds who were watching their flocks of sheep that night. The angel told them of the good news that Christ the Lord was born (Luke 2:8-11).
In this area there were many caves. These caves were where the shepherds would rest together with their flock of sheep in the cold winter season. We would be experiencing Mass being said in one of these caves on Christmas eve.

Bethleham N Basilica of the Nativity

23/12/08
In the afternoon we went on to Bethleham, some 8 km. south of Jerusalem. The word Bethleham in Hebrew means "House of Bread". This was the birth place of Jesus and His ancestor ..King David. We reached the Basilica of the Nativity and had to literally bow low to enter the church grounds. Notice that the entrance of the church was made low and narrow in order to protect it from the Moslem invaders and to prevent them from entering on horseback.
Today the front of the church is shared by the Greek Orthodox, the Latins and the Armenians.
Anything in front of the altar area is considered no man's land.

We entered the Grotto of the Nativity and the silver star denotes the spot where Jesus was born (Luke 2:1-7). The holy manger lies to the right of it.

Bethleham and Jericho

22/12/08
Finally in the afternoon we entered the walled city of Bethleham and went on to shop for souvenirs at The Three Arches.

In the late afternoon, we headed to Jericho and checked into Jericho Intercontinental which would be our base for the next 4 days while we visited Bethleham and Jerusalem.
We were supposed to stay in another hotel in Bethleham but due to security reasons we were booked into this hotel. (On this day the truce on the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Hamas ended).