The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-12-20
CHRISTMAS In BETHLEHEM.
Rather We Should Say Christmases
as it Has Three!

Christmas this year Will have greater
significance than for long time at Beth
lehem, for peace now reigns between the
Greek and the Armenian and the Catholic
congregations, whose single edifce, the
Church of the Nativity, is built upon the
spot where Christ was born.
A long, bitter quarrel, brought about
through no fault of the Catholic monks.
has 1T last been patched up.
No fewer than three Chrismases are
celebrated at Bethlehem, each with equal
pcmp and ceremony, for only in that city
do he three sects which have fixed upon
different days exist in anything like equal
:lum bers.
The difference OF dates IS really one OF
calendars, for each sect holds that its
Christmas is the real 25th Of December
| According to our calendar the Greek
Christmas falls upon january and tie
Armenian Christmas twelve days later
The Church of the Nativity, in which
all of the ceremonies are held, was erected
| by the mother Of Constantine the Great
| about the fourth century, making it tn
eldest christian church in the world. Tie
Greeks nave built wall right across
the centre, shutting themselves off from
the Armenians and the Catholics, ana
their share Of the basilica is not used In
the first celebration, although the Ar
nenian affairs and other objects Of wog-
ship are rented to the Latins for this
occasion
| The Grotto of the Nativity is a small
cave cut out of the living rock under
heath Gha church. and is reached from
the interior by two flights OF stairs The
Grotto is lighted night and day by scores
of brass hanging lamps, and here is. ex-
hibited q representation CT the original
:nanger cut IN marble, and in the stone
floor is inlaid large silver star, marking
the actual spot where the Royal Birth
took place.
The Catholic and Latin celebration On
he 25th of December is similar to the
one SO we'll known throughout the world
1t is thirteen days later, on January
I, that the Orthodox Greeks hold their
festival. The initial service at midnight
is crowded to suffocation, the followers
of the faith being attired in their richest
garments and ornamented with jewels
and strings of coins The priests take
their places at the affairs and the cere-
monial begins with the mass of the Or
thodox Greek liturgy. There is chanting
ana prayers, ana the people are COuIlnu"
ally on their knees. The five loaves are
blessed, the wheat. the wine and oil,
after which the loaves, resembling little
round breakfast biscuits, are broken into
diminutive portions and passed among
the worshippers. Another service follows
the midnight mass without intermission,
and a procession of all the worshippers,
led by the priests, winds, with candles
flaring about the huge columns of TIE
nave, down through the Grotto Of the
Nativity and up again to the affairs. This
double service continues until three
o'clock.
At half-past ten o'clock the ac-
tual Christmas ceremony begins. At
that time vast procession, headed
by the Greek Patriarch from Jerusalem.
and fanked by monks and nuns and broth
ers of the Franciscan Monastery, and
hundreds of Greek and Russian pilgrims.
forms at the entrance of the town. To
chants by trained choir and with cross
uplifted, the procession sweeps through
the town and enters the basilica. whore
masses and ceremonies and professions
continue throughout the day.
The Armenian Christmas follows twelve
days later. On January 10 q very sir.i-