Bethlehem, Jerusalem and Aboud Easter 2007

This visit was in part linked to the Leicester-Bethlehem St. George art competition, and the planned visit of children from the Ghirass Centre to Leicester. It was also an opportunity to experience the Orthodox Christian Easter, which in 2007 coincided with the western calendar.

  
    Hakaya Dabke dancers from the Ghirass Centre                      Walk on Good Friday from Beit Jala to Batir with the 
                                                      Ghirass Centre

When the wall around Bethlehem is completed this walk will no longer be possible
    

Easter is the most important Festival of the year for Orthodox Christians. On  Holy Saturday (Easter Saturday) - In Arabic Sabt Al-Nur (The Saturday of  Light),  Orthodox Christians  believe an annual miracle occurs.  The Orthodox Patriarch enters the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. There 'The Holy Fire', a  flame appears from which he lights candles which are passed out to the faithful who carry bundles of candles. The Holy  Fire is passed from person to person and eventually carried to Christian communities throughout Palestine, the Middle East and to Greece, Russia and Orthodox Christians throughout the world. When the Holy Fire reaches Ramallah it is met by Christian Scout pipe and drum bands from the city and the nearby villages with a Christian presence. After the processions it is taken to the individual villages, including Aboud, where the local Scout bands march again.