There is no public holiday in Beirut as long as present as Christmas. And this despite the fact that Beirut is a multi-denominational city, which means that it is spread over the year many other religious holidays, Christian, Sunni and Shiite, where practical, freihat the entire population. So also at Christmas. But only Christmas is announced weeks in advance, in basically the same way as in Europe. For the first Advent, the city sparkles, every tree is wrapped with light triple chains, of the street lanterns, the stars hang in the Foyers lights Christmas trees. Some of the Concierge must also build a crib, where one can. of Cribs not actually speak, rather of rolling hills with scattered figures, everything is huge, from plastic and from China and buy for little money in one of the Pop-up garages just outside of the city
An act of resistance
Lena Bopp
editor in the features section.
F. A. Z.
the Christmas looks like Beirut like an old lady, who throws himself into the shell, but forgot to take a shower before. She shakes the dust from his clothes and the war invalids, the nose why not powders. You can’t go, just because the circumstances suggest a close. Bullet holes on the building facades behind Christmas posters Advertising well hide. The garbage-strewn Green traffic island with a reindeer-drawn carriage almost forgotten, and the Smog thinned tree crowns not to fall behind the shooting stars. So the Decorating at Christmas time is not only an end in itself, but an act of resistance against conditions of life which would be difficult to call often enough belittling. According to seriously you have to take the Whole thing.
Because, when everything is ready, Mouktar. The Mouktar is the head of a district, that meets usually the administrative tasks. He has birth certificates and distributed papers, you need to install an Internet connection or to buy a house. At Christmas, however, he wanders through his district, and inspected the miniature chalets with plastic snow on the roofs. The next day he stands for a photo in the newspaper. Also, the television was there, as a few days ago on the martyrs ‘ square, just a stone’s throw from the Blue mosque, the huge Christmas tree was erected – a monster made of metal with green paint and screwed-balls, whose inauguration it is a beautiful display of fireworks.