Way down in the land of Judea,
God sent to the earth a Savior, for all men
One star for the Holy Light,
Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
From Jerusalem to Bethlehem:
Bethlehem, being in Palestinian territory, is served by the Arab bus network. From the terminal near Damascus gate, bus # 21 goes directly to the stop near the church of Nativity. However, for some reason I was boarding bus # 124 probably because I asked the wrong question. Just like me, there was a couple from Mexico and a guy from Korea. Just a note: Bus 124 does go to Bethlehem, but – not to the place you wanna go. The correct question to ask is – “Which bus goes to Church of Nativity in Bethlehem?” 😉
It was too late by the time we realized that we were in the wrong bus. We found ourselves dumped at a check post in some unknown part of Bethlehem. Fortunately we met a German guy who was volunteering at the church and was passing through that place – he showed us the right way. It was a long 30 minute walk – almost felt like a pilgrimage! I was glad we took the wrong bus, how else would I have seen the real (i.e. non-touristy) Bethlehem town? But, for a non-adventurous traveller the moral of the story is – take bus #21 from Jerusalem, it costs 11 NIS and is the best way to go in my view.
Market on the path to Church of Nativity
The Church of Nativity is accessible only on foot. There IS a road, but it is lengthy and inconvenient, so most people prefer to walk (except the large tour buses). Even the bus #21 drops you at some distance away from the Manger square where the church is located. It is a pleasurable walk thru narrow alleys full of shops on either sides. The cost of goods was, in general, lower that that in Jerusalem (for example, the Jerusalem bread cost only 3.5 NIS as opposed to 5 NIS in Jerusalem). It was fun to walk thru the market, and every five minutes there was either a chapel or a mosque.
Church of Nativity:
Virgin Mary and baby Jesus in Church of Nativity
This church is one of the oldest Churches in the world that is still operational. It is built over a cave that is believed to be the birth place of Jesus Christ. This church is administered jointly by the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic branches. The guidebook I used said that all the three styles are identifyable. However, I am not architecturally endowed, so it all looked the same to me. As the case of most other historical sites in Israel, this site too was built, destroyed and rebuilt over the past 1500 years. I was in Bethleham just two days before Christmas, and it was nice to see shops and houses decorated, not to mention truckloads of devotees.
Birthplace of Jesus Christ:
An array of photo frames and idols of various figures, crosses, worshiped using flowers and lighting of oil lamps. There is a marked symbol looking like Sun over which people rest their heads – touching that symbolic representation of God is very important. People push you around in the zeal to grab a quick view (darshan?) of the holy place. The place of worship itself is underground in a damp and stuffy chamber. You are supposed to clean your feet before entering. Wearing a cap is prohibited. The priest doesn’t allow you to linger there and hurriedly thrusts a bit of holy food (prasad?) on your palm before signaling you to move out.
Wait a minute – did you think that I was describing some Hindu temple? No, I wasn’t, infact I was telling you exactly how it was in the core of this Church! The lines of distinctions between religious worship are not as deep as we think, are they?
My visit to the Church of Nativity (and Israel in general) exposed me to a whole new world of Christian symbolism and iconography. In the pictures above, the star symbol was the exact place where it is believed that baby Jesus was born. Immediately after birth, the baby was lifted and placed on a manger because Joseph and Mary were too poor to afford anything luxurious. That’s the white platform in the picture.
The church is really old and is preserved in that fashion. As soon as you enter the church, there is a large open square with complex arrays of lamps hanging on either sides and all over the church in general. The walls are decaying but the golden mosaic can still be seen. The pillars, largely worn out have delicate paintings on them. The whole place gave me a very distinct feeling that I am just a tiny dot in the universe. Suddenly, I discovered that I have unknowingly joined my hands to pray.
I am glad I visited the place where Jesus Christ was born.
People:
The Korean guy was lost and the Mexican couple was very religious, so they probably spent more time in the Churches around. There is nothing else really important in Bethlehem other than this place so I was on my way back. Meanwhile, I met this European guy while I was having some Arabic coffee in one of the shacks on streets. People were naturally curious about us and it was very entertaining to talk to them. One of the local Arab guys knew a Hindi song from the 80’s and was delighted to sing it (it took me a while to understand what he was saying!)
Salespeople! Ah, well, I missed the aggressive Indian-style sales tactics since I came to Canada last year. It was the same, same old technique that is so common in India. People will pursue you and virtually beg you to buy their stuff. As an MBA student taking ‘negotiations’ courses, all their tactics fascinate me. The little kids always seem to know what price a person is willing to pay, and they are excellent negotiators! One girl even said, ‘Your girlfriend will love it’ – they know exactly what to say (well, almost 😉 )
Manger square in Bethlehem, directly in front is the Mosque of Omar
There is an infamous ‘wall’ that separates the West Bank area from rest of Israel. Every vehicle from Palestine to Israel is stopped at the checkpoint – every passenger has to exit the vehicle, stand in a queue and get his ID’s checked by Israeli soldiers. They also check the vehicles. It seemed just another thing for the Palestinians but I was trying to imagine a similar situation in India. I think we must pause and appreciate the freedom that we enjoy regardless of our religion (in India, or the rest of the democratic nations in general), because not all the people in the world get the same.
There was a separate queue for foreigners (just the two of us). I met a soldier of Indian origin at the border checkpost and had an interesting conversation with him (will post later) .
Soon the bus navigated to Jerusalem and dropped me off at Jaffa gate – The main entrance to the old city…
And that’s going to be my next blog: Old city of Jerusalem.
Beginning composition by New hope Music
Must have been quite exciting getting a chance to speak in your mother-tongue at such an unexpected place and time. The travelogue so far, has a nice flow. Waiting for the next parts 🙂
You know as an Israeli it is unsafe to travel to those areas. Thanks for the nice virtual tour of this place.
There is a Jewish place called Rachel’s Tomb located near Bethlehem btw, and there are some more smaller Christian sites around the city. But you are right, this church is the most important.
Nandan:
Welcome to Priyank.com and nice to see your comment after a long time. I edited the current blog and removed my conversation with the soldiers because it was not related to Bethlehem, I’ll post it later!
Yair:
I have heard most Israelis say that. I knew there were some places near Bethlehem, but I had other reasons to get back to Jerusalem that day.
this was a good post, are hindi temples also like that? did you attend the service or christmas mass?
this is the best in the series …the pictures were awesome..and I liked the way you wrote that suddenly your palms joined together to pray..
Pls scroll down to the last para of my post..you will find something of interest to you
So did your girl friend like it :D?
Your travelogues are better than your movie reviews.
Tho both are written in equal details; may be I feel this way bcoz travel interests me, and our interest in movies differ : )
anyway…
Liking this series.
Wish we all in the world could see the similarities in our religions. That really seemed to be a temple description!
and I bowed my head to that picture of sun there.
Doesn’t harm me in any way!
Happy to be born in a secular country.
Rick (ritr007):
Thanks. Many Hindu (note the word) temples are like that. I did not attend the service since I went there 2 days before Christmas.
Lakshmi (backpakker):
wow, thanks!
And I commented on your post too 🙂
kasakay:
Welcome to my blog. Kasa kay?? (hehehe)
Well I didn’t buy anything from her, so I don’t know 😉
Raji:
I guess – out travel interests do match! To tell you honestly, I was asked many times why I was visiting Christian or Jewish or Muslim religious places. My answer to them was simple – my religion does not stop me from doing that, so as you said, “why not?” 🙂
“I think we must pause and appreciate the freedom that we enjoy regardless of our religion (in India, ..”
I’m not here to discuss politics and opine on who has the right of sovereignty over whom, however, reading your post reminded me of the time when I visited Lebanon in 1994. That time I felt exactly like you conveyed here when I noticed the old Lebanese driver of the taxi we were in was being subjected to security inspections at various check points by Syrian soldiers in Lebanon. Each time he had to get down from the taxi while the tourist passengers (us, Indians) were not questioned.
Such incidents make us all the more appreciative the value of the freedom we enjoy that we take for granted otherwise. That’s why I keep harping endlessly on how great India is. To me, the thought of 1.2 billion people living, more or less, harmoniously and freely in a pluralistic society is commendable.
Priyank, don’t know if I should refrain from hitting the ‘submit’ button here or apologize for this lengthy comment.
Thank you for this excellent post full of interesting information and splendid pictures. 🙂
Cellu,
The comment box is very happy because its purpose is being met. Please dont hesitate ever to post your comment here.
Your similar personal experience has made this post richer indeed, and probably thats exactly how I felt 🙂
Hi
Waiting for your stories on Tel Aviv Yafo.
Hi,
I just returned from Israel last week (18–5-08)..loved the place and saw most of the places that you have mentioned in your web page.. in fact i read your web pages beforw I went… you have good pics.. and I got a good idea of the places because of that..
The church of the nativity and The church of the Holy Sepulchre are my favourites…
Shoshi: Yeah, I don’t know when I will post that 🙁 Maybe after finishing Peru series… Sorry to keep you waiting..
Leena: Welcome again. I am glad the information posted here was useful – now that makes it totally worth all the pain of blogging 🙂 Thanks so much for letting me know.
[…] the Palestinian territory of West Bank was the Church of Nativity where Jesus was born. The feel of West Bank area, after crossing the big wall and the security […]
[…] Me ← Scrolls from the Holy Land – 5 : Bethlehem : Older post Newer post : Scrolls from the Holy Land – 7 : Tiberias […]
Ahhh, Priyank…that’s too bad I didn’t get to Bethlehem. Would have loved to see the birthplace of Jesus, or at least, the Church of Nativity. When I go, I will make sure to take bus #21!!!
LOL Yes please! It will be fun, I miss Israel now…
[…] very unlikely as I am not baptised as a Christian. But I did follow Jesus Christ from his birth at Bethlehem to his childhood in Nazereth and youth in Galilee, to his final journey (Stations of the cross) in […]