The article is about holidays and impressive ceremonies in Jerusalem which you can arrange guided tours to Jerusalem, or just join the celebration! Among the holidays: the Easter week in Jerusalem, Palm Sunday, Feet washing ceremony, Good Friday, Holy Light / Holy Fire, Shavuot holiday, the Pentecost holiday, Lag BaOmer in the Haredi neighborhoods, the Ramadan days, Elul month (veniality month) and more. (Via Dolorosa tours)
In each year at the beginning of the spring Jerusalem wears a really festive atmosphere especially for the Easter week. Impressive ceremonies, colorful parades, special outfits and tens of excited pilgrims from all over the Christian world who are coming for the “Holy Week” celebrations, when the different churches are restoring chapters from the last life chapter of Jesus.
The celebrations are beginning at Sunday when Jesus entered as The Messiah, to the city on the back of a donkey and a mass of people waved at him with palm branches while shouting “Hosanna”, therefore this days Is also known as Palm Sunday, at this day we can join the thousands of pilgrims and the heads of the churches, equipped with palm branches, olive branches and Lulav, different musical instruments and a lot of joy in our hearts.
The next fascinating sight takes place on the same week’s Thursday and is called the “Feet washing Ceremony”. The ceremony recreates an event which is described in the new testimony in which Jesus wore a wrap around his waists and washed the feet of his dozen followers, as a symbol of his modesty. The ceremonies are taking place in Jerusalem, where the patriarchs, archbishops and heads of the churches will change their glorified priesthood clothes, wear wraps and wash the feet of the parsons/ordinands which are under their responsibility. The ceremonies are taking place in the areas of the different churches; the Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian, Ethiopian and Armenian.
The most important ceremony in jerusalem, which is the ceremony which symbolizes the rejuvenation of Jesus and the triumph of Christianity the finale of the “Holy Week” which will take place in Saturday, which is the Holy Light / Holy Fire Saturday. By noon it’s likely that the old city gates will still be closed and a lot of pilgrims will pass the night between the walls to be present at the ecstatic scene when as the tradition says the Holy Spirit descends as fire from the sky and lights the patriarch torch which lies inside the tomb structure. The descent of the fire is accompanied with the screams of the mass and deafening bells that never stops ringing. The patriarch takes out the torch from a little hole in the tomb hall and instantly the holy fire spreads among the thousands of believers who holds a collection of 33 candles – as the number of years Jesus lived. The fire will keep on spreading all across the city in many parades and even fly with the believers back to Russia/Romania/Greece etc.
Fifty days after Passover the Jews are indicating the “Matan Torah” holiday which is the “Shavuot” Holiday. At that night, ‘Mekubalim’ determined that the Sons of Israel were doing a ‘Tikun’ (reparation) and were studying all night, reading the Torah, studying the scroll and debating Holy Scriptures. In recent years the ‘Shavuot Night Tikun’ became a multi-disciplinary studying night for everyone.
The city is full of life, the synagogues and seminaries in the old city and the new one are inviting everyone who comes at their gates to a night of studying. Swarms of people are streaming to David’s grave at mount Zion for the merrymaking of the Jerusalem mason who was born and passed at the date of Vav (6th day) in Sivan month. The Western Wall’s Yeshiva is sizzling as an excited bee hive while hundreds of followers are learning Torah and Talmud. The highlight of that night is reaching its end: a great human river, all wearing whites, is flowing from all over the city to the Western Wall, through the alleys and the silent market. The dawn twilights are rising in the horizon and the one who walks at the alleys feels like he is a pilgrim at the days of the Temple.
Seven weeks (about 50 days) from the Easter holiday, like the seven weeks from the Passover holiday, the Christians are celebrating the “Giving of the Torah” holiday, which is the Pentecost holiday, which by the new testimony, tongues of fire descended from the sky and caused the followers of Jesus, a descendent of David, speak in a mix of different languages which they used to spread his gospel.
It is not surprising, that traditions are tending to connect stories to geographical sites. The one who prays at the tomb of King David will be surprised to find out that in the floor above him found the room of the Last Supper, where the Christians are indicating the Pentecost holiday…
Giant “Lag BaOmer” bonfires, during the seven weeks, at the 33th day of the Omer count, the multitude of Israel, inflamed with joy, are moving in circles around the bonfires, which lights up the Haredi neighborhoods, and warming the city and the hearts. Every once in a while you can see groups of curious tourists who are enjoying the holiday atmosphere at night, which opens the tours season in Jerusalem.
The next day, which is the holiday itself, the Haredi people are usually doing the “Halaka” (Splitting) – Which is the ceremony of cutting the hair for the first time for children when they reach the age of three. The ceremony is usually done at the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yohai at the mountain of “Meron”. Over the years, the Jerusalem pilgrims had difficulty at reaching all the way to the Meron Mountain, so instead they started to pilgrim to the borders of the “Sheikh Jarah”, to the grave of Shimon the righteous, who was a great priest at the days of the Second Temple.
In Lag BaOmer the place is rumbling with large families who are coming to have some kind of “Picnic”, excited towards the first haircut of the offspring…
The holidays of the upcoming summer, will get a unique meaning in Jerusalem since the Hebrew and Muslim calendars, in the first day of the ninth month, which is the month of the Selichot (forgiveness) period will cross oneself, with the day that the Ramadan period is starting. (Selihot tours)
By the early evening hours, when the canon who was places by the city council at the “Rockefeller museum” will fire (these days a firecracker is being thrown) will shake the city alleys, the real celebration begins: Muslim businesses in the old city are changing their looks to festive looks. Food which is special to the holiday is in every corner, luster light is lighting the city and the thousands of Muslims from all over the country are coming to the Temple Mount praying and giving charity. (Ramadan tours)
Correspondingly, the alleys which are leading to the Western Wall are beginning to wake up… Towards midnight the Wall square is starting to be filled up with tens of prayers, small and old people, religious, seculars, tourists and curious people who are begging and asking the creator for forgiveness. This ecstatic experience is reaching its peak with the pardon poetics which are known to us all.
There’s a lot more to see, ear, taste and experience in the city where the time is short and the holiness is great…
(Treasure Hunt in Jerusalem)
Lag baomer tour in jerusalem
Old jerusalem tour
Trasure hunt game in jerusalem
Machne yehuda tour in JerusalemThe article was written in 2010, Doron Yosha