Bundled up with scarves, gloves, and heavy coats we ventured out on what must have been the coldest night of the year to attend a festival whose tag line is "Come back to the meaning of Christmas, Come back to the night Christ was born." The main concern of the children on the way was whether or not a camel was going to spit on them. Seems that this is a hot topic in public education these days and they were very concerned.
Arriving at our destination, opinions began to change slightly as to how the evening might play out. Streets had been blocked off and signs guiding cars into various parking lots suggested that this wasn't just an everyday event. Passing the church we could see hundreds of torches providing light for Bethlehem. Comments ranged from "interesting", "cool", "we'll see", and "see I told you guys it would be great!"
On arrival the children were provided a gold coin to be used in the market. A group was formed up and led into a setting where an inhabitant of Bethlehem spoke to us and informed us that we must be very tired after traveling so far to their town to log our name into the census being taken by the Roman soldiers. She informed us in fact that there was not even room at the inn for us! Leaving the scene we were taken to the gates of Bethlehem where the Roman soldiers lined us up for the census and informed us that we were to behave.
Upon entering Bethlehem we were immediately inside the market where vendors were selling bread, fish, fruit and other essentials of the era. Comments ranged from "ooh, look at the chicken", "neat", "hmm", and "told you!". Vendors and carts filled the area and Roman soldiers milled about keeping order, generally trying to keep several people from informing others about Jehova and the "one God".
We made our way through the market and toured a local citizens home. As we were told earlier, we were unable to go into the inn as there wasn't even room for one more person. However, we were able to see the stables where llama's, goats, horses, and camels were in residence. We made it through without getting spat upon which was unheard of according to the children.
After feeding some goats, we listened to another man telling us about Jesus. He suggested that he knew Jesus and that he had seen him perform miracles. Unfortunately Jesus had been arrested by the Romans and had been scheduled to be put to death. We were led to a scene of Jesus dieing on the cross, only to be reborn!
The evening ended with cookies, hot chocolate and coffee provided by the church. Comments ranged from "that was great", "when can we come back", "better than I thought it would be" to "Hrumph, and you all thought it would be goofy."
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