In Israel, everything comes together. Not only are the three world religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam represented here, but all the different customs within these faiths are also taken into account. In the case of Christmas, this also leads to a special constellation that is mainly concentrated in Jerusalem.
With the Epiphany holiday on January 6th, the Christmas season officially ended for many on the following Sunday. You could also say the commercial part of it, after the unwanted Christmas presents have been exchanged. Although we know that according to old tradition Christmas lasts 40 days, i.e. until Candlemas (Presentation of the Lord) on February 2nd.
They were not kings either, but magicians. And they did not arrive in Bethlehem 13 days after Christmas, but a full two years later (cf. Mt 2:16).
A Norwegian friend of mine from Tel Aviv, a conscientious theologian, had the habit of always pushing our “Three Friends” (Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar) at the wooden nativity scenes on display in the shops in Bethlehem as far away as possible, i.e. away from the nativity scene, in order...
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