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Millions celebrate Christmas across globe
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-26 09:14 Worshippers brought hopes for greater peace in the
coming year as they flocked to Manger Square in Bethlehem to hear Christmas
messages urging an end to violence, particularly in the Middle East. But from
Indonesia to Iraq, fear overshadowed the festivities.
Few worshippers dared attend services in Baghdad on Saturday, and tens of
thousands of police stood guard at packed churches in Jakarta.
US Navy AZ2 (Aviation Admin. Man 2nd class) Marco Moreno,
right, from Ontario CA, and US Navy Sgt Edward Brewer, center, from
Baytown, TX wait to be served turkey by catering contractor Daniel
Decrvez, left, from India at the dining facilities of Camp Arifjan, 120 Km
south of Kuwait City on Saturday, Dec. 25, 2004. The US personnel deployed
in Kuwait celebrated Christmas at the base with traditional a Christmas
supper, church services, carols and Christmas decoration
contests.[AP] |
Gang violence cast a pall over Christmas in the Honduran city of San Pedro
Sula, where suspected gang members wielding assault rifles boarded a public bus
and killed 28 people two days earlier. In a message left on the bus windshield,
the gunmen promised more violence, saying: "People should take advantage of this
Christmas because the next one will be worse."
Friday night, jittery last-minute Christmas shoppers scurried for cover in
the city when fireworks went off and rumors spread that street gangs were
preparing to fight.
Christmas in Haiti was subdued after another year of endemic poverty and
political upheaval, including a three-week rebellion that ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February.
In the capital of Port-au-Prince, many poor Haitians spent Christmas Day like
any other: trying to eke out a living.
"Christmas is no different from any other day. Jesus is with me, but I have
to work to scrape by," said Marika Marie, 30, selling mangos and oranges on a
roadside in suburban Petionville.
But festivities were lighthearted in other corners of the globes. Australians
in bikinis and Santa suits took their parties and Christmas barbecues to the
beach. And in London, Madrid and Paris, the streets were nearly empty as
families stayed home for their traditional Christmas dinners.
Queen Elizabeth II urged religious and cultural tolerance in multicultural
Britain in her traditional Christmas message, broadcast on television and radio.
"Religion and culture are much in the news these days, usually as sources of
difference and conflict, rather than for bringing people together. But the irony
is that every religion has something to say about tolerance and respecting
others," she said.
The queen also praised Britain's troops overseas.
In the United States, President Bush issued a Christmas message for his
country's troops just days after an attack on a U.S. military hall in the Iraqi
city of Mosul killed 14 U.S. service members as well as eight others.
"In Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, these skilled and courageous Americans
are fighting the enemies of freedom and protecting our country from danger,"
Bush said.
Hundreds of worshippers marched through the streets of Beit Sahur village in
the West Bank, holding candles and singing.
In Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, a new thaw in
Israeli-Palestinian relations drew several thousand more pilgrims than last year
as Israeli troops eased passage through checkpoints into the West Bank city.
Among those attending services was interim Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas —
a change from previous years, when Israel prevented the late Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat from attending out of fears that he would advocate violence.
Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, the senior Roman Catholic official in the Holy
Land, called on Israelis and Palestinians to put violence behind them.
"Our situation continues to be a situation of conflict, violence, insecurity,
fear, military occupation, the wall of separation, of imprisoned cities and
demolitions," he said at St. Catherine's Church adjacent Manger Square.
"Palestine and Israel must conquer the evil of violence ... and give birth to
a new society of brothers and sisters in which no one controls the other, no one
is occupied by the other, no one causes insecurity for the other, no one takes
liberty from the other," he said.
Abbas, a Muslim, said: "We ask God and wish that all the religions in this
country will live in peace and security. I hope next year will be much better
than the previous ones."
Spanish King Juan Carlos used his televised Christmas address to pay tribute
to the victims of the March 11 train bombings. The king said relatives of the
191 people who died in Spain's worst terrorist attack had his and his family's
"deepest affection and understanding."
In Puerto Rico, many kept up local Christmas traditions.
Ruby Ortiz, 31, who grew up in San Juan and lives in Albany, N.Y., said she
returned home this year to show her son a Puerto Rican Christmas. She and her
friends spent Christmas Eve going door-to-door in the cobblestone streets of Old
San Juan, singing and playing drums — an event called "parranda."
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