page_title: Jifna
section_title: Traditions
hierarchical_section_title: Jifna / Culture / Traditions
caption_attribution_description: English: Jifna church
context_page_description: Jifna is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the central West Bank, located 8 kilometers north of Ramallah and 23 kilometers north of Jerusalem. A village of about 1,400 people, Jifna has retained a Christian majority since the 6th century CE. Its total land area consists of 6,015 dunams, of which 420 are designated as built-up areas, most of the remainder being covered with olive, fig and apricot groves. Jifna is governed by a village council, led by chairman Jabi Na'im Kamil.
  Jifna was known as Gophnah at the time of the First Jewish-Roman War, and after its conquest became a Roman regional capital, though remaining predominantly Jewish. Later the town grew less significant politically, but nevertheless prospered as a Christian locality under Byzantine and later Arab rule due to its location on a trade route. St. George's Church in Jifna was built in the 6th century CE, but fell into disrepair and was not rebuilt until the arrival of the Crusaders in the late 10th century. However, it again fell into ruin after the Crusaders were driven out by the Ayyubids. In modern times, the ruins of St. George's Church have become a tourist attraction.
context_section_description: There are a number of local traditions in Jifna. A prominent legend among Jifna's inhabitants is that the Holy Family rested near an oak tree in the town on their way from Jerusalem. The legend's origins  are due to Jifna's location along the ancient Jerusalem-Nazareth road.
  A nearby mountain was named Jabal ad-Dik ("Mount of the Rooster") because of a traditional story. According to the tradition, a Jew that lived in Jifna had visited Jerusalem during the Passion. Seeing Jesus rise from the dead, the man immediately converted and told his wife what he saw. His wife refused to believe him unless the rooster she had just killed would come back to life. Instantly, the rooster flew away towards the mountain. The story was recited in some monasteries on Holy Thursday together with other biblical readings.
  A legend exists about Jifna's spring—which the village has used for centuries—concerning how it periodically runs low on water. Popular belief is that this is the work of the djinniye (female spirit). According to Palestinian researcher Tawfiq Canaan, "In Jifna the priest has to go on such an occasions to the dry spring to repeat prayers and burn incense, and thus reconcile the djinniye or force her to let the water flow".
  Like many Palestinian villages, the women of Jifna have their own traditional dress. Costumes in the village, known as rumi abyad ("Greek White") and rumi aswad ("Greek Black"), were dresses of hand-woven linen embroidered with the Jifna's own motifs. Preparing burbara, a sweet pudding-like dish made from whole grain wheat, on the Feast of Saint Barbara has been a tradition in Jifna for several centuries.
caption: A church in Jifna, 2012
exif: {"Image Make": "Sony Ericsson", "Image Model": "J108i", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "", "Image DateTime": "2012:10:25 15:04:06", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "134", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "13574", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6946", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "16", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:10:25 15:04:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:10:25 15:04:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "11/4", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1200", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "416", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}