Today marks the end of another holiday season in Jerusalem. Over the past week, bread was hard to come by as Jews celebrated Passover. And, this past weekend, Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter.
The converging holidays created traffic havoc in Jerusalem and massive throngs of people flowing into the Old City.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the Holy Fire ceremony held in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
According to tradition, on the Saturday before Easter, the Greek Patriarch enters the tomb where Christ is said to have been buried. While inside alone the holy spirit is said to light a bundle of 33 candles carried by the Patriarch. The Patriarch then carries the holy fire out of the tomb to light the candles of thousands of worshipers that crowd into the church for the ceremony.
Ethiopian Christians were long ago kicked out of the church and relegated to space on the roof (I was told it was because they didn't pay taxes or dues, but I'm not quite sure...), where they perform their own Holy Fire ceremony later in the evening.
The Ethiopian ceremony may actually be the more colorful of the two, as the worshipers don white and play drums as they take part in the Holy Fire ritual.
Below are a few pics from the week of celebrations.
Worshipers take part in the Ethiopian Holy Fire ceremony.
Saturday service in the Ethiopian section of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Jewish worshipers at the Western Wall during Passover.
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Posted by: David | November 01, 2008 at 03:56 AM