The Latin parish of Jerusalem celebrated St. Barbara as due on Sunday 4th December. Many legends surround the life of the saint, who was martyred in Lebanon in the 3rd century.
Legends or not, the traditions remain alive in the Middle East and, whilst in Lebanon on the eve, people dress up and visit houses to ask for sweets, in Jerusalem on the same day, people go to visit the elderly, taking “Burbara”, a sweet dish of boiled wheat grains, flavoured with aniseed and decorated with dried fruit.
This year, youngsters and adolescents were particularly numerous in following Friar Badie and the friars who accompanied him, with the group splitting into two to visit as many houses as possible. It also has to be remembered that as many houses of the Old City are very small, they cannot hold so many people.
The youngsters went through the Christian quarter singing the traditional refrains of the fast-day, with the doors opening before them so that one of the groups could go in to sing, pray and bless the house and its inhabitants, whatever the Christian confession of the person visited. “There are too many of us to have time to worry about our divisions.
What we have in common this evening is the Lord and the joy of visiting our elderly, some of whom live in solitude,” says Father Badie. His Galilee accent sometimes brought a smile to the face of his hosts, who ask where he is from.
In the meantime in church, the parish priest, Friar Feras Hejazin, celebrated mass before a fine group of parishioners who had come for the occasion. After the blessing, he was joined by the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, to light the Christmas tree, then the assembly gathered in the parish hall to share the “Burbara”.
As the community started to go home, the young people’s songs continued to echo in the Old City.
Mab
Legends or not, the traditions remain alive in the Middle East and, whilst in Lebanon on the eve, people dress up and visit houses to ask for sweets, in Jerusalem on the same day, people go to visit the elderly, taking “Burbara”, a sweet dish of boiled wheat grains, flavoured with aniseed and decorated with dried fruit.
This year, youngsters and adolescents were particularly numerous in following Friar Badie and the friars who accompanied him, with the group splitting into two to visit as many houses as possible. It also has to be remembered that as many houses of the Old City are very small, they cannot hold so many people.
The youngsters went through the Christian quarter singing the traditional refrains of the fast-day, with the doors opening before them so that one of the groups could go in to sing, pray and bless the house and its inhabitants, whatever the Christian confession of the person visited. “There are too many of us to have time to worry about our divisions.
What we have in common this evening is the Lord and the joy of visiting our elderly, some of whom live in solitude,” says Father Badie. His Galilee accent sometimes brought a smile to the face of his hosts, who ask where he is from.
In the meantime in church, the parish priest, Friar Feras Hejazin, celebrated mass before a fine group of parishioners who had come for the occasion. After the blessing, he was joined by the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, to light the Christmas tree, then the assembly gathered in the parish hall to share the “Burbara”.
As the community started to go home, the young people’s songs continued to echo in the Old City.
Mab