Christmas in Iraqi Kurdistan is celebrated quite differently from the way it is in Western countries. Muslim-background Kurdish believers are just beginning to officially celebrate the occasion and usually spend the day visiting fellow believers, sharing a meal and reading the Christmas story together. Christian-background believers (Catholic and Orthodox), on the other hand, naturally have a long history of Christmas celebration.  On Christmas Eve, an unusual ceremony is held in the courtyard of most of their households where children read the story of the Nativity from an Arabic Bible, while the other family members hold lit candles. A pile of dried thorns is kept in a corner. As soon as the story has been read, the pile of thorns is lit into a bonfire. A psalm is sung as long as the fire burns. It is believed that the way the fire burns signifies the future of the household for the coming year: if the thorns burn to ashes it is a good omen and indicates good fortune for the family.  When the fire is reduced to ashes, everyone jumps over the ashes three times and makes a wish.

Then on Christmas Day, a religious service is held in local churches and all Christian families residing nearby come to attend it. A bonfire, similar to the Christmas Eve one, is lit and all the men of the congregation chant a hymn while it burns. Then a procession begins in which the Bishop walks out carrying an image of the infant Jesus upon a scarlet cushion, followed by the officials of the church. This Christmas Day service is quite long and always ends with the Bishop blessing the people and touching a member of the congregation with his hand. That member touches the person standing beside him, who then touches the person him. This continues until all those in the church have received the “touch of peace.”

For many years Christmas was just another work day for the vast majority of Iraqis. In 2008 the Iraqi government declared Christmas as an official holiday for the first time in the history of the nation. It is not listed as such for 2009 and beyond, though it is on the official government docket for consideration.  We pray that eventually it will gain permanent holiday status.