DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0206
188
CHRISTMAS AT BETHLEHEM.
"We alighted at the Convent, which appeared to be in
the wildest and noisiest state of confusion with its hosts
of guests, and were shown into a small dormitory, where
we waited till the good brothers summoned us to supper
— cabbage-soup, cold fish, and raisins. The service,
which was held in the Latin Church of St. Catherine,
commenced directly after, but we did not go into the
Church till nearly ten o'clock. It was crowded to ex-
cess with tightly-packed rows of peasant women in their
white eezars, and men in bright-coloured mash' lahs:
the gay kefiyehs were removed, and only white cotton
caps remained. We were conducted to seats, which had
been provided for us near the altar, immediately behind
the state chair of the French Consul: we were sur-
prised at the reverence paid to him throughout the
service; they were continually bringing him the cross
or relics to kiss, censing him specially, and bowing to
him repeatedly, whenever any of them crossed the
chancel. The service was very grand and splendid —
the Patriarch was re-attired six or seven times in ex-
ceedingly rich robes, his mitre sparkling with the very
large jewels with which it was inlaid, all which accorded
well with his superb face and figure—majestic, haughty,
and proud, yet with a sweet smile, and a very intellec-
tual countenance. He sang his part of the service
beautifully and reverently-—indeed, the singing would
have been altogether charming, had the music been less
incongruous—but it wandered from opera to opera, and
from overture to overture, until, just at the moment of
the elevation of the Host, every solemn thought and
feeling took flight as the organ struck up " Strida la
vampa," and Patriarch and Priest seemed to melt away
into the figures of Azucena and Manfredo, with the
gipsy band around them! But we thought we had never
CHRISTMAS AT BETHLEHEM.
"We alighted at the Convent, which appeared to be in
the wildest and noisiest state of confusion with its hosts
of guests, and were shown into a small dormitory, where
we waited till the good brothers summoned us to supper
— cabbage-soup, cold fish, and raisins. The service,
which was held in the Latin Church of St. Catherine,
commenced directly after, but we did not go into the
Church till nearly ten o'clock. It was crowded to ex-
cess with tightly-packed rows of peasant women in their
white eezars, and men in bright-coloured mash' lahs:
the gay kefiyehs were removed, and only white cotton
caps remained. We were conducted to seats, which had
been provided for us near the altar, immediately behind
the state chair of the French Consul: we were sur-
prised at the reverence paid to him throughout the
service; they were continually bringing him the cross
or relics to kiss, censing him specially, and bowing to
him repeatedly, whenever any of them crossed the
chancel. The service was very grand and splendid —
the Patriarch was re-attired six or seven times in ex-
ceedingly rich robes, his mitre sparkling with the very
large jewels with which it was inlaid, all which accorded
well with his superb face and figure—majestic, haughty,
and proud, yet with a sweet smile, and a very intellec-
tual countenance. He sang his part of the service
beautifully and reverently-—indeed, the singing would
have been altogether charming, had the music been less
incongruous—but it wandered from opera to opera, and
from overture to overture, until, just at the moment of
the elevation of the Host, every solemn thought and
feeling took flight as the organ struck up " Strida la
vampa," and Patriarch and Priest seemed to melt away
into the figures of Azucena and Manfredo, with the
gipsy band around them! But we thought we had never