Virus tones down Christmas joy
Around the world, few mark holiday in public celebrations
BETHLEHEM, West Bank—Bethlehem on Thursday ushered in Christmas Eve with a stream of joyous marching bands and the triumphant arrival of the top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, but few people were there to greet them as the coronavirus pandemic and a strict lock down dampened celebration sin the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
Similar subdued scenes were repeated across the world as the festive family gatherings and packed prayers that typically mark the holiday were scaled back or canceled. More than 79 million cases of the virus and over 1.7 million deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded by Johns Hopkins University.
In Australia, worshippers had to book tickets online to attend socially distanced church services. The Philippines prohibited mass gatherings and barred extended families from holding traditional Christmas Eve dinners. Traditional door-to- door children’s carols were canceled in Greece.
Pope Francis was set to celebrate Mass in a nearempty Vatican service early in the evening as strict new curfew rules were going into effect.
Italians lined up at bakeries, fish markets and grocery stores for items needed to prepare Christmas Eve dinners, even as government officials begged families to limit their gatherings to no more than two people outside the main family unit. The government this week barred travel between regions, and police were out Thursday enforcing the restrictions.
In Athens, Christmas Eve was eerily silent. In normal times, voices of children singing carols while tinkling metal triangles can be heard all day. The decades- old custom, in which children go house to house and receive small gifts, was banned this year.
Groups of children managed to honor the tradition by singing to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis by video link.
Throughout the pandemic, one of the hardest-hit churches in New York City has been St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Manhattan. Church leaders say more than 60 members of the congregation— which numbered about 800 before the pandemic — have died of COVID-19, almost all of them part of the community of some 400 who attended services in Spanish.
Despite their own heartbreaks, congregation members — many of them immigrants— donated coats, scarves and other winter clothes for more than 100 migrant minor sat a detention center in Manhattan.
In Bethlehem, officials tried tomake themost out of a bad situation.
“Christmas is a holiday that renews hope in the souls,” said Mayor Anton Salman. “Despite all the obstacles and challenges due to corona and due to the lack of tourism, the city of Bethlehem is still looking forward to the future with optimism.”
Raw, rainy weather added to the gloomy atmosphere, as several dozen people gathered in the central Manger Square to greet Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Youth marching bands playing Christmas carols on bagpipes, accompanied by pounding drummers, led a joyous procession ahead of the patriarch’s arrival early in the afternoon.
“Despite the restrictions and limitations we want to celebrate as much as possible, with family, community and joy,” said Pizzaballa, whowas tole ada small Midnight Mass gathering later in the evening. “Wewant to offer hope.”
Thousands of foreign pilgrims usually flock to Bethlehem for the celebrations. But the closure of Israel’s international airport to foreign tourists, along with Palestinian restrictions banning inter city travel in the areas they administer in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, kept visitors away.
The restrictions limited attendance to residents and a small entourage of religious officials. Evening celebrations, when pilgrims normally congregate around the Christmas tree, were canceled, and Midnight Mass was limited to clergy.
It was not the usual raucous Christmas Eve in Mexico City. The big celebration was a ceremony where the country’s first coronavirus vaccine shots were administered.
On Christmas Eve, parents usually take their kids to a downtown plaza where actors dress up as the Three Wise Men or Santa Claus and pose in front of elaborate backdrops resembling the sets of popular children’s movies.
But this year, the Wise Men and Santas were banned. Mexico’s other grand tradition, Midnight Mass, was canceled inmany parishes.
Australians had until recently been looking forward to a relatively COVID-19-free Christmas after travel restrictions across state borders relaxed in recentweeks in the absence of any evidence of community transmission. But after new cases were detected over the past week, states again closed their borders.
While many places around the globe were keeping or increasing restrictions for Christmas, Lebanon was an exception. With its economy in tatters and parts of its capital destroyed by a massive Aug. 4 port explosion, Lebanon has lifted most virus measures ahead of the holidays, hoping to encourage spending. Tens of thousands of Lebanese expatriates have arrived home for the holidays.
Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East and traditionally celebrates Christmas with much fan fare.