Celebrating Christmas in Israel

By Jeff Abramowitz Dec 23, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Tel Aviv - This is the 11th Christmas that Maria Constancia Lopez, a migrant worker from the Philippines, is celebrating in Israel.

Christmas in the Holy Land, of course, focuses on the city of Bethlehem, where Jesus is believed to have been born. However, Israel's growing Christian population of migrant workers means the holiday is now being celebrated in many of the Jewish state's cities.

Maria is one of an estimated 40,000 Filipino workers in Israel. And for the timid-looking Catholic, Christmas is the most important time of the year.

She and her family lead a reclusive life. That's because for the first two years of her sojourn in Israel, she had a work permit. But now, she is classified as an illegal migrant. While such migrants are generally tolerated by the population and often employed by locals businesses, the authorities are not so forgiving.

Maria's husband, for instance, has been temporarily detained in the past. The family, which includes two children born in Israel, are now trying to obtain a permanent residence permits.

On Christmas Eve, she and her friends will gather in her small apartment in Tel Aviv and wish each other 'Pasko Maligayang' - 'Merry Christmas' in Tagalog, the most popular language in the Philippines.

As every year, a plastic Christmas tree stands in a corner of her small apartment.

'We decorate it with garlands and lights,' she says.

Christmas decorations are not so easy to find in Israel. There are some shops, especially in the ragged quarters of south Tel Aviv, where most foreign workers live, which do stock cheap Christmas trinkets, mostly made in China.

But the city's glittering shopping malls do not feature many festive signs or symbols, and the only men likely to be standing outside are not rotund Santas trying to spread some seasonal cheer but security guards checking for suicide bombers.

The festive season is easier to detect in Jaffa, with its large Christian-Arab population, where some shops display Christmas trees, pictures of Santa Claus or signs wishing customers a Merry Christmas.

St Antony's Church in Yefet Road, an imposing sandstone structure, is the parish church of the Filipino community in the Tel Aviv area. Most worship there, although some attend the nearby St Peter's Church. Services are also held in an unconsecrated chapel.

Built in 1932, the church has 300 seats. Its priest, Father Ramzi Sidawi, expects a larger Christmas congregation than usual this year.

Filipinos, yes, but Africans as well, he notes.

Daily services in English and Arabic have been held at the church since December 16 and will culminate with a midnight mass on December 24.

Father Ramzi is assisted by two Filipino priests, one of whom was especially sent out to minister to the community.

For Maria's children, the wait for Santa to arrive with his presents is a tough ordeal.

'I send the children to bed just after church, and wake them shortly before midnight,' Maria says.

The family will prepare many traditional Filipino Christmas dishes: cheese balls, adobo meat from chicken, pork and beef, as well as rice and noodles. Rice cakes are served for desert.

On Christmas morning, they will go to Bethlehem, joining tens of thousands of pilgrims in the city of Christ's birth.

Once they arrive at the ancient city in the southern West Bank, which is an approximately two-hour drive from Tel Aviv, they will go to the Church of the Nativity, and then descend into the grotto beneath the alter where, according to tradition, Mary gave birth to Jesus.

'The Christmas food and the gifts are very nice,' Maria says, 'but more important for us is that we, family and friends, celebrate together, are happy, and can sense the presence of Jesus.'