By Karin Kloosterman

Located in the Galilee, Nazareth, the city where Jesus grew up, hasn’t always been the most quiet of places. But tonight, on the eve of the birth of Jesus, Arab Christians are hoping it will be a silent night.

While Canadians are preparing Christmas pudding and wrapping the presents, you can tune in to watch the Christmas ceremonies live from Nazareth today. I received this in my inbox:

Israel Television will tonight (Wednesday-Thursday), 24-25.12.08, beginning at 23:55 (that’s about 5 PM in Toronto), broadcast live the traditional (Roman Catholic) Christmas Mass from the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth.

Latin Patriarch H. B. Fouad Twal’s representative, Auxiliary Bishop and Patriarchal Vicar General for Israel Most Rev. Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, will conduct the Mass in several languages.  He will be assisted by various senior priests.

The Mass, which will take approximately two hours, will be broadcast live on channels #1 and #33, on Israel Radio’s Arabic station and on the Israel Broadcasting Authority website viewable through here.  Israel Radio commentator Antoine Shahin will accompany the broadcast.

Tourism Minister Ruhama Avraham-Balila, Nazareth Mayor Ramiz Jaraisy, senior members of the diplomatic corps from Catholic countries and senior clerics from other denominations will be in attendance.

For a lighter take on the Christmas traditions in Nazareth, above is a video, prepared by my friend Molly, for Israelity. She was in Nazareth earlier this week and used the song “Winter Wonderland” in Arabic in her video. What a trip.  Some of her thoughts:

It was amazing to walk through the churches and learn about Nazareth’s history. A Nazareth resident, who has belonged to his church for over 80 years, told me that he sees thousands of Christian pilgrimages come through Nazareth each year.

From the old city to the new city, we ventured over to a restaurant owned by a Nazareth Christian resident, Mary Abu Jaber, who told us that she never planned on owning a restaurant but wanted to show the Nazareth community the true potential of the city. Her restaurant, “Coincidence,” is featured in the video and was one of the most beautiful restaurants I have been to in Israel. She used an old structure of an abandoned building, to create the main dining area and also built an art gallery. In fact she told us that they’re currently building a book shop to add to the facility.

If you are ever in Nazareth I highly recommend checking it out.

My first trip to Nazareth was an awesome experience and I got to capture that feeling in this video. Unfortunately being there before Christmas, I wasn’t able to see their huge parade which is held in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, but then again there is always next year.

I’ve also been to Nazareth a couple of times. And what Molly’s video doesn’t explore are some of the tensions between Arab Christians and Muslims in the city. Sitting one night two years ago with a Christian yoga teacher, who is also a dentist, she told me the Christians in Nazareth feel threatened by a growing Islamic extremism. That they are pressured to remove decorations and to not celebrate Christmas. Anyway, I encourage you to come to see Nazareth for yourself. In the meantime, happy holidays!