Bethlehem’s bombed-out nativity sculpture sends a powerful message

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VBNVBGml_Q

This year, Bethlehem is sombre and quiet.

There is no Christmas tree and there are no holiday lights or tourists to see them. Instead, the city of Jesus’s birth – which is in the middle of a war zone – is marking Christmas with a powerful and poignant message: solidarity with Palestine. 

The Holy Family Cave is a sculpture [by Tariq Salsa https://tariqsalsa.info/the-holy-family-the-first-palestinian-refugee-family/ ] that depicts a harrowing tableau: a bombed-out version of the traditional nativity cave, which many Christians traditionally believe is where Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  It is the site of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. 

 Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reports from Bethlehem.  Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/AJSubscribe Follow us on Twitter:   / ajenglish   Find us on Facebook:   / aljazeera  

Basilica of the Nativity in Nazareth has a patinated bronze statue of St Joseph with shiny knees from the affection people have show him through the years #Palestine

St Joseph always gets a bit short-changed in the memory of Christians. Thankfully at the Basilica of the Nativity in Nazareth, space is made to remember his honourable devotion. In this bronze statue, Joseph’s knees are rubbed shiny by the affection people show him. Often missed is the image of an angel carved into the rear of the statue. Joseph had his own annunciation and this indicated the way he should approach the challenge of Mary’s suprise pregnancy.

 

“When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; he named him Jesus.’” 

St.George's College Jerusalem