By Dina Al Amood | Staff Writer
Since 2019, Lebanon has seen varying levels of enthusiasm for the holiday season amid ongoing political and economic crises. This year, the scaled-back Christmas celebrations reveal that the Lebanese are yet again in a state of unease.
In Beirut, holiday decorations in residential neighborhoods and town squares were less frequent than last year. They clustered almost exclusively around commercial areas like restaurants, hotels, and malls. Tony Al-Rami, head of the Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, confirmed a decline in tourism. He announced, “Lebanon needs peace and security for reservations in its restaurants and nightclubs to increase.”
Despite the reported decline in commercial life, many accounts indicate popular restaurants were packed in the days leading up to the holidays. The nine-day Christmas In Action fair was also a great success. The 11th fair session at Forum De Beyrouth exhibited 200 local shops selling everything from food to home decor. Joelle Feghali, the event’s project manager, reported that 6000 people visited the fair on average every day. Nearby, in Downtown Beirut, Solidere Corporate’s Beirut Sings was equally successful.
The northern towns of Lebanon showcase a similar pattern of celebrations for commercial purposes, mainly to cater to tourists. These towns include Jounieh, Jbeil, and Batroun, all central hubs of Lebanese tourism.
Meanwhile, the southern towns of Lebanon celebrated Christmas modestly. The districts of Sidon, Tyre, Jezzine, Bint Jbeil, and Nabatieh are living under the shadow of the war in Gaza and its repercussions in their region in particular. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 72,437 people in Lebanon have been displaced since October, over 22,000 of whom are supported by The Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) according to the head of the Disaster Management Union in Tyre, Mortada Mhanna.
Many civil society organizations, like the LRC and the Halim Al-Hawat Charitable Foundation, are focusing their resources on preserving the festivities for children. They have organized Christmas carol choirs, arts and crafts workshops, and clothing drives. Additionally, U.N. peacekeepers distributed toys to around 250 children from the majority-Christian village of Ain Ebel, the Bint Jbeil Caza. The gift distribution occurred in the Saint-Joseph des Saints-Cœurs School. According to a Yahoo News report, Sister Maya Beaino, the head of the school, is quoted saying, “We’ve been living war in every sense of the word; three-quarters of the village has fled. The people who stayed are in a state of sadness.”
In Rmeish of the same Bint Jbeil Caza, Mayor Milad Alam reported there is “no holiday atmosphere at all.” Notably, this village is closer to the border than Ain Ebel. The town is 2 kilometers away from the border. Because of the security threat their proximity poses, Rmeish’s local church has delayed its customary Christmas Eve night time Mass to the morning of Christmas Day.
Meanwhile, in the Rachaya al-Foukhar town of the Nabatieh Governorate, modest efforts to celebrate were made in the town square by setting up and decorating a large Christmas tree. The small village is accustomed to a lively and vibrant atmosphere during the Christmas season when the diaspora returns for short visits to their home villages. This year, the square remained abandoned, contributing to what some criticize as the superficiality of the decorations. Yet, Tony Bajani, from the Beirut Badro Business Association, argues that the Christmas tree is symbolic, even if deserted. He told Arab News, “It’s a way of proving our existence and trying to confirm that despite all the crises, we are still alive.”
On the Mediterranean coast of southern Lebanon, Tyre’s minority of 540 Christian families also experienced a tense, scaled-back Christmas. The Muslim majority usually helped uphold the atmosphere of the holidays commercially since the ancient city’s economy was dependent on tourism. The celebratory atmosphere of Christmas invited families of all religions from all over Lebanon to visit the town, particularly when mid-year school vacations start. Yet, Zouheir Halaoui, the owner of Al Fanar restaurant and hotel in Tyre, reported to Reuters that this year was an exception. He declares, “No one invested in decorations because the South is mourning and in pain.”
The most extreme cutback of celebrations came from the Roman Catholic church of Sidon, the city about 40 kilometers away from Tyre. The church announced they will not accept Christmas congratulations this year because, in the words of their bishop, Elie Bechara Haddad, “There is a painful atmosphere in the entire region.”