Weihnachten … bei Lee in Israel

„Was machst du an Weihnachten?“ war wohl die Frage der letzten Wochen. Und ganz egal wen man fragte, die Antworten waren immer gleich. Einige gehen in die Kirche, manche essen Gans, manche Ente, aber alle verbringen die folgenden drei Tage mit Ihren Familien. Weihnachten ist also in Deutschland weiterhin ein Familienfest bei dem in entspannter Atmosphäre vom turbulenten Vorjahr abgeschaltet werden kann.
Doch wie sieht das in anderen Ländern aus? Um das heraus zu finden befragte ich über einen englischen Standardfragebogen Freunde, die ich während meiner Asienreise kennengelernt hatte. Die vielen unterschiedlichen Antworten stelle ich nun vor.

Nun folgen die Antworten von Lee. Sie ist ein junges Mädchen, das in einem kleinen Dorf in der Nähe von Haifa in Israel wohnt. Wir haben uns beide in Japan auf Miyajima Island getroffen und haben seit dem immer mal wieder auf Facebook Kontakt. Auf Ihre Antworten war ich irgendwie ganz besonders gespannt, da Sie gar nicht weit von Nazareth entfernt wohnt und dennoch gar kein Weihnachtsfest feiert. Aber lest doch einfach selbst…
 
In your opinion, what is the true meaning of Christmas?
I’m Jewish and before Christmas we have holiday called Chanukah, which is also connected to light like Christmas with it big lights on the Christmas tree. Chanukah is just before Christmas and both holidays create a meaning of hope to me. The light symbolizes to me that there is a small „light“ in everything that happen to me or that I have in my life. Christmas is in the end of the year and I think that just before we start the new year, we have to remind ourselves what is the good things, „the lights“, in our life and this celebration of Christmas with all the lights that there are in the street and all over the places, create a vibe where every person can think about the happy moments in his life or what he likes about his life. There is a very happy and spiritual vibe with all the lights. With this we can enter the New Year with a lot of new hope and wishes.
 
Jesus was born 2013 years ago. For that matter Christmas is a Christian celebration. Do you and your family celebrate Christmas, too? Why? Why not? Is there a similar ceremony in your culture?
I as a Jew don’t celebrate Christmas and I don’t believe in it, it’s not a Jewish holiday. The only thing me and my family do is to see all the lights in the Christian villages that there are in Israel and feel the vibe around this holiday, which is very nice and colorful. There are not many Christian villages in Israel because Israel is mostly Jewish. Israel is a place where you can see Jews live next to Muslims and Christians and it is beautiful to see how all their holidays combing together. For example, as I told, just before Christmas we have Chanukah and in a city like Haifa, which is one of the main cities in Israel, you can see Chanukah’s candles next to Christmas tree. I like having this combination of both holidays. They are very similar holidays, both of them have lights connected to them in the visual side and they are colorful holidays. As I see it they also have a very similar meaning of hope and happiness.

 
What are you doing between December 24 and 26? 
I’m not doing something special between the 24 to the 26 of December because I’m not celebrating Christmas. I might go to see lights in the Christian quarter in Jerusalem. I do celebrate the New Year and every year I’m going out with my friends for a party or something else.
What will you eat between these days? 
I don’t have a Christmas dish but I like the jelly doughnut that we eat over Chanukah and before we are going out in New Year Eve, I’m always going with my best friends for dinner in a nice restaurant.
 
Imagine you catch Santa coming down your chimney on Christmas Eve and he grants your one wish – What would it be? It doesn’t matter how expensive or unbelievable it is… 🙂
My wish from Santa, if I could ask for anything, would have been to fly to exotic places around the world and to have the opportunity to travel in all those places and experience them.
 
 

 
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In den nächsten Tagen folgen die weiteren Beiträge:
Weihnachten … bei John in den USA
Weihnachten … bei Andreea in Rumänien
Weihnachten … bei King in Taiwan
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