Christmas in Jordan
I know it’s a bit late, but here is my account of our Christmas here in Jordan. If you’d like to know how we spent Advent, do have a read of Julia’s second blog post (if you haven’t already).
December began with a trip to the Jordanian customs office. My parents had sent me my violin by post (very risky, I know). After we’d had to overcome a few hurdles there to avoid having to pay 100 dinars, our Christmas music-making could begin. We now often accompany the congregation’s hymns with the violin during services, which many worshippers enjoy. Once, I also took my violin along to visit the deaf-blind children. There, I played with two boys who can hear a little. First, I played a few Advent and Christmas carols for them, then they were allowed to have a go at the violin themselves. (Of course, I was always ready to set some limits, as things did get a bit wild now and then.) Some of the teachers also really enjoyed having a go at playing the violin.
After the children were sent off on their winter holidays, we began visiting some members of the parish in their homes. This meant that, together with Father Jamil, we visited elderly people who are no longer able to come to church. In the families, we were always offered the local black tea with sugar. After Father Jamil had chatted with the people for a while, Julia and I unpacked our violins and accompanied the songs during a short prayer service. It was lovely to see how an elderly man, who hadn’t really been able to join in the conversation, completely came alive during the songs and was actually able to sing along to everything.
Another highlight was the Christmas Tree Lighting Party at the Catholic church in Salt. After the service, the whole congregation gathered outside the church. Suddenly there was loud applause, and a bell rang behind us. Unsurprisingly, Father Christmas appeared. What we hadn’t expected, however, was that Tom and Jerry would also turn up in the churchyard alongside Father Christmas. We immediately thought of the children at the boarding school who are mad about Tom and Jerry. The Christmas tree, however, was still not lit up. After a short while, however, a countdown began, the sort one only associates with New Year’s Eve parties in Germany. At zero, the Christmas tree’s fairy lights came on and fireworks were set off. Afterwards, there were loads of sweets, which we were practically forced to try. To accompany this, Christmas carols were played at such a volume that you could barely hear yourself speak.
On 23 December, our fellow volunteer Caro joined us in Salt. We spent the morning of 24 December visiting Fuheis, a village near Salt. As the local population is largely Christian, there are several churches to visit and plenty of kitschy Christmas decorations to admire. In the afternoon, we drove back to Salt, where we made ourselves very cosy in the Christmas spirit. In the evening, we attended the service at the Catholic church. I’d actually got used to the fact that I understand very little during the service, but on this special evening it felt a bit odd. I was all the more delighted when, at the end of the service, whilst a Baby Jesus doll was being carried through the church, ‘Come, O Believers’ (in Arabic) was sung. Back home, we had a delicious meal and exchanged presents. Of course, a phone call to the family was a must to check that everything was going as usual back home.
Overall, it did feel a bit as though we’d skipped Christmas here. We still managed to put together a rather lovely substitute Christmas celebration, though.
The next morning, we couldn’t sleep in for too long, as the Christmas service began at 10 am. Naturally, we had to be there earlier so we could rehearse the Christmas carols for our little singing group during the Eucharist. After the service, we were invited to Christmas dinner with Father Jamil and his in-laws’ family. Together we drove to Jerash to a Lebanese restaurant. The restaurant was probably the poshest restaurant I’ve ever eaten in. For starters, there was fatoush, a kind of bread salad, hummus and a few other spreads, and raw lamb, which took some getting used to for me. The main course consisted mainly of various types of meat such as kebab, but also chicken. Naturally, everything was eaten with bread. For dessert, there was a sort of pudding with pistachios and honey. The meal was truly excellent! On the way back, we were dropped off in Amman, as we wanted to attend the service at the German congregation that evening.
Caro, Julia and I also spent New Year’s Eve in a very special way. Namely, in the desert at Wadi Rum. It was truly wonderful to gaze at the starry sky and enjoy the silence and the campfire. The landscape during the day is, of course, impressive too. On New Year’s Eve, at midnight, there was also a small firework display which exploded very suddenly on the ground a few minutes before midnight. Which ushered us into the New Year with a mixture of shock and laughter.
As we still had the whole of January off, we used our holidays to visit Madaba, Ajloun and Aqaba as well. All in all, it was a really successful Christmas holiday!
See you very soon!
This text was automatically translated using an AI-powered translation system.
