BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) – Bethlehem ushered in Christmas Eve Thursday with a flood of merry brass bands and the triumphant arrival of the top Catholic pastor in the Holy Land, but few people came to greet them as the coronavirus pandemic and a strict lockdown muffled celebrations in the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
Similar subdued scenes were repeated around the world as the festive family gatherings and packed prayers that characterized the holiday were scaled back or canceled altogether due to the coronavirus.
In Australia, worshipers had to book tickets online to attend church services with a social distance. The Philippines banned mass gatherings and banned extended families from holding traditional Christmas Eve dinners. Traditional door-to-door songs for children were canceled in Greece.
Pope Francis was said to celebrate Mass in an almost empty Vatican service early in the evening, as strict new curfew rules came into effect.
Italians lined up at bakeries, fish markets and supermarkets for items needed to prepare Christmas Eve dinners, even as government officials pleaded with families to limit their “cenone” gatherings to no more than two people outside the family unit. The government banned travel between regions earlier this week, and police were absent on Thursday to impose the restrictions.
Celebrations elsewhere in Europe have been canceled or scaled back as virus infections spread across the continent and a new variant has been discovered that may be more contagious.
It was eerily quiet on Christmas Eve in Athens. Normally there are voices of children singing Christmas carols all day long while metal triangles can be heard ringing. The decades-old custom, where children go from house to house and receive small gifts, was banned this year. Groups of children managed to keep the tradition alive by singing to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis via video link – including students from a school for children with hearing difficulties who performed in sign language.
The government of North Macedonia has banned outdoor celebrations and gatherings of more than four people at home. Hotels and restaurants are not allowed to host New Year’s celebrations, and bars and restaurants must close at 6:00 PM until January 20th.
“Parties can wait, health cannot,” said Health Minister Venko Flipce in a Facebook post.
In Bethlehem, officials tried to make the most of a bad situation.
“Christmas is a holiday that renews hope in souls,” said Mayor Anton Salman. “Despite all the obstacles and challenges posed by corona and the lack of tourism, the city of Bethlehem is still looking forward to the future with optimism.”
Raw, rainy weather added to the gloomy atmosphere, as dozens of people gathered in the central Manger Square to greet the Latin patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Youth-marching bands playing Christmas carols on bagpipes, accompanied by pounding drummers, led a procession before the patriarch’s arrival in the early afternoon.
“Despite the limitations and limitations, we want to celebrate as much as possible, with family, community and joy,” said Pizzaballa, who would lead a small midnight mass later in the evening. “We want to offer hope.”
Thousands of foreign pilgrims usually flock to Bethlehem for the celebrations. But the closure of Israel’s international airport to foreign tourists, along with Palestinian restrictions banning intercity travel in the areas they control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, kept visitors away.
The restrictions limited the turnout of dozens of residents and a small entourage of religious officials. Evening celebrations, where pilgrims normally gathered around the Christmas tree, were canceled, and the midnight mass was limited to clergy.
The coronavirus has dealt a severe blow to the Bethlehem tourism industry, the lifeblood of the local economy. Restaurants, hotels, and gift shops are closed.
Elsewhere, there was little holiday sentiment for tourism-dependent Thailand as the country struggles with an unexpected spike in virus cases, despite strict border controls that have effectively blocked travelers from entering the kingdom.
The Christmas and New Year holidays are typically peak season for the hotels, restaurants, bars and often naughtier than the tropical country’s fun nightlife spots. Many of those companies have either gone out of business or decided it is even worth opening.
Shopping centers that cater a lot to foreign tourists have built towering artificial Christmas trees. Some hotels that remained open set up their usual buffets for expats and members of Thailand’s affluent elite.
But any hope of a return to norm has been dashed in recent days when the country registered a new cluster of more than 1,000 cases. Authorities responded by announcing new restrictions on Bangkok and other areas, including canceling New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Australians had until recently been looking forward to a relatively COVID-19-free Christmas, after travel restrictions across state borders had been relaxed in recent weeks in the absence of any evidence of community transmission. But vacation plans ran into chaos when three cases discovered on December 17 uncovered a new cluster in northern Sydney. As more cases were discovered, states closed their borders again.
Peta Johnson, a native of northern Queensland, had prepared to welcome her recently widowed father from Sydney. Due to travel restrictions, the trip has been postponed until February.
“He’s absolutely heartbroken because he wants to have some time with us and have a break from Sydney and everything that’s going on,” she said.
Churches required worshipers to reserve tickets for services. Brett Mendez, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Perth, said St. Mary’s Catholic Cathedral would limit services to 650 worshipers, slightly more than half the normal level.
While many places around the world enforced or increased restrictions for Christmas, Lebanon was an exception. With its economy in tatters and parts of its capital devastated by a massive port explosion on Aug. 4, Lebanon has lifted most of the holiday virus measures, hoping to boost spending. Tens of thousands of Lebanese expats have come home for the holidays, leading to fears of an inevitable rise in the number of cases during the holiday season.
Lebanon has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East – about a third of the 5 million people – and traditionally celebrates Christmas with much fanfare.
A giant Christmas tree in central Beirut is adorned with firefighters’ uniforms to commemorate those who died in the explosion in the harbor. Another tree represents Beirut’s old houses destroyed in the explosion.
“The people around us were tired, depressed and exhausted, so we said, let’s just plant a drop of joy and love,” said Sevine Ariss, one of the organizers of a Christmas market along the coastal road where the explosion caused the most damage.
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Federman reported from Jerusalem. Nicole Winfield in Rome, Adam Schreck in Bangkok, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Zeina Karam in Beirut, Konstantin Testorides in Skopje, North Macedonia and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens reported.