Christmas in Jordan عيد الميلاد في ألأردن

Those of you who read my last post know that approaching the Christmas season in Jordan was especially hard for me as it is for all people who are away from their families.  All the Americans that I knew here who are Christians returned to the States to be with their families, but going home wasn't an option for me.  So many times going up to Christmas I had dreams of going home for the holidays then wondering how I was suppose to get back to Jordan.  But as I told so many of the closest people in my life, I know that being here is only the beginning for me.

This Christmas I basically only had my boyfriend, Rojeh, to celebrate with.  He is a Jordanian Christian but although his family has always put a Christmas tree, they never really celebrated like he grew up watching on TV.  I decided to try to make it the best Christmas for his sack as well as for my own.  

Here in Jordan, the only place that you can tell it's Christmas is in the international stores in the malls which send decorations to their Jordanian branches.  The university did give usa day off of school, but only one, and I have a test on Sunday so Christmas celebration was pushed back into the back of my mind.  Most of our friends who are still here in Jordan are either Muslims who don't really celebrate Christmas or foreigners who celebrated with their visiting family or with their close group of friends.  

Amman International Church

We went to a Christmas Concert in one of the 5 star motels in Jordan the Thursday before Christmas.  It was put on by the music academy Blue Birds which is owned by foreign Christians.  All of the performances were by a collection of foreign Christians.  It was the second concert of their that we had attended and honestly, their concerts always remind me of home.  They have such a loving spirit about them, but they always have the freedom in music which allows you to dance, sing, and have fun--something that I have missed the most when it comes to culture.  Then on Christmas Eve, we attended the Amman International Church's Christmas Eve service.  This church is composed of English speaking foreigners from all over the world who are living in Amman.  It meets in the Baptist School here in Amman and brings the central US church right here to Jordan.  This service was especially full.  It was such a blessing to see that I wasn't the only one celebrating Christmas in a foreign Islamic country.  We sang all the traditional Christmas songs and had a message about being like the shepherds that answered the call of the angels to visit the Christ Lord Jesus in Bethlehem that night.

After service, Rojeh and I went to the Christian town of Fuheis (الفحيص) which is located just outside of Amman.  Once we got to Fuheis, I could feel a completely different spirit.  We got off of the bus at the main circle in Fuheis and I saw people ringing bells and celebrating the Christmas spirit.  Instead of the Muslim call to prayer, there was the churches' bells and prayers filling the air.  There were people dressed up in Santa suites, as well as other costumes.  Even children were dressed up in Christmas costumes as they walked the streets with their parents.  Whenever they got to Santa Clause,  they took pictures and walked on merrily as the children has a hug smile on their face.  Santas were ringing bells, hanging out of the car door as the driver drove down the road honking his horn.    So many of the stores were covered with Christmas spirit and many of them even had nothing but Christmas decorations inside of them.  As we looked over the city, we could see multiple homes covered with decorative lights.  All of the traffic circles were covered with decorations--trees, tensile, lights, and even pictures of the candidates for the 2013 elections.  

One of the circles just up the hill from the church (cops to the left and St. George on the top)

The moment I got off of the bus, the first thing I noticed was the large amount of police officers everywhere.  Before we came, we heard rumors of all the troubles in Fuheis.  Traditionally, they put up a huge Christmas tree at the main circle where we got dropped off.  This year, there was only a statue outlined with Christmas lights that said Fuheis in Arabic.  The city didn't put up the Christmas Tree this year because of all the problems with the Muslims coming to Fuheis.  Because it is a largely Christian town, there is many more alcoholic stories then their are in Amman.  Many Muslims come to Fuheis just to drink because they think of the Christians as the free and liberal people (which compared to many of the muslims here, they are).  While they're drunk, they start to cause problems with the unveiled girls.  Of course in a tightly nit town, this causes many problems that break out into fights.  This year, there were cops everywhere.  They stood at every street circle (which btw--the main form of control for merging roads in Jordan--I see very little traffic lights here) and at the entrances of churches.

Traditions carry on

In our wanderings, we ran across an Orthodox church that was holding its Christmas Eve service.  I eagerly entered the services.   The Orthodox and Catholic churches are the dominating denomination of Christianity in Jordan.  According to Wikipedia, Jordanian Christians are some of the oldest in the world.  Here I saw people of all likes all celebrating Christmas in the traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation.  I sat there and listened as the choir sang the traditions of old as the priest prayed for everyone (all in Latin or Greek--I'm not sure which).  People walked up one by one to light a candle for different prayers after they kiss the face of a saint and pressing their foreheads against the image.  Women walked in and instantly put their decorative vials on their heads.  The man siting in front of me was holding his sleeping son which made me think of the years of tradition that had been passed down in this community for over two thousand years.

After several minutes we departed the church in search for the nativity that Rojeh remembered visiting before.  After walking around in the cold for several minutes, we found the location but this year it had been replaced with two new buildings which blocked the view.  It was no longer decorated.  It was interesting to me the amount of influence that was choking out the old Christian traditions slowly.  Rojeh said that there use to be several Christian areas in Amman, but now, Fuheis is the last remaining one.  Even though it is known as a Christian community, it still has a far share of Muslims which has made an influence on the locals.  It's not a matter of a decrease of Christians in Jordan, but an incredible growth of Muslims in Jordan.  While Christians might have three to four children, Muslims will have five to fifteen.  This causes a quick overgrowth that is drowning out the Christian population.  But overall, there was still a spirit of joy and festivities.  Before the end of the night, we went to buy great Arab sweets and ate them as we watched the Christmas Carol that we bought at the mall before my apartment.

On Christmas Day, I still hadn't bought Rojeh's Christmas present.  If I were in the States, it would have been too late to buy a present because all stores are closed on Christmas Day, but here, the holidays are the main days for younger people to go shopping.  I met up with one of my Jordanian girlfriends and went to our favorite mall with her and her siblings to search for Rojeh's present.  After a few hours her mother called her promptly to return home.  I bought Rojeh's gift and returned to my apartment because he had a Christmas party to attend with some of his male foreign friends.  I retired for the rest of the night to my apartment watching Christmas movies while laying in my warm bed.

For all of my family, I'm sorry that I didn't call you yesterday.  I didn't have internet connection, but I pray that you had a wonderful Christmas and that there was warmth in your hearts.

Additional Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuhais

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanian_Christians