What do festivals, annunications, and ugly sweaters all have in common? Nazareth.

For the final class trip in my program our colloquial Arabic teacher took us to her hometown of Nazareth to experience the Christmas Market there. Essentially, she released nearly a dozen students on the town of Nazareth to explore and immerse themselves for two days. 

The first stop was an old ceramics factory in the city. It was a third generation business and the owners gave us a cool cultural lesson on life in Nazareth years ago. They also provided us with a delicious local lunch and had a bunch of fun Arab-related clothing to relate to the little history lesson.

The guys messing around in traditional headdress (worn not so traditionally in this photograph).

Lisa and I trying out different Arab headdresses. I'm gender-bending a bit culturally and wearing the traditional male head piece.

After lunch we checked into our hotel which was originally an Arab mansion but has now been renovated into a guesthouse. We settled in and prepared for the main event of the trip: the Christmas Market. Hundreds and hundreds of people showed up for what was the opening night of the five day market.

The girls on the balcony outside the apartment at the guest house.

(From left to right: myself, Ilona [our TA], Kati [my roommate], Melanie, and Lucia)

My classmates and I ran into some festive friends in town.

As the evening went on more and more people filtered into Nazareth. It was the first night of the market and at 8:00pm the official opening event was going to start. Hundreds of people packed into the center of town to see the lighting of the Christmas tree and lights.

The crowd in front of me at the main square.

What came next was easily a highlight of my trip. I stood pressed against friends in the crowd grinning as we shouted the countdown along with the crowd in Arabic. All at once the town light up: all of the Christmas lights illuminating simultaneously with the giant Christmas tree. At the same time the Church of the Annunciation's bells began ringing. Amongst all the spirited cheers, lights, and bells, the town of Nazareth set off one of the best firework shows I've seen. Standing only feet from where Mary was informed she was going to have a son I stood next to people from all over the world as the sky filled with festive light and music.

 Fireworks being set off from the Church of the Annunciation.

After the celebration, being the rambunctious students we are, we headed back to our housing for the night to continue with heated games of backgammon and some casual conversation before an early bedtime. After all, we had another whole day to explore in Nazareth. On Thursday we woke up and our teacher took us through the Old City and to the Basilica of the Annunciation.

Shops all decked out for Christmas in the market.

A side view of the Basilica. The main entrance is on the left. 

Just a tiny part of one floor of the inside of the Basilica.

One of my favorite parts of the Basilica was actually the structure around it. There's a sort of walled alcove surrounding the Basilica that has unusual pieces of art all throughout. The church asked people from all over the world to create mosaics to hang at the Basilica of the Annunciation. The only rule was they had to depict Mary and something regarding the Annunciation. It was fascinating to see global perspectives and art pieces and was such an interesting and beautiful place to walk.

 The mosaics from Indonesia and Thailand at the Basilica.

Lisa and I walking around the area with the mosaics.

A funny note about the sweater in the above picture: I obtained this sweater on our class trip to Jaffa. When we were walking around my roommate Kati and I discovered the sweater in a little boutique shop while we had some free time. We later showed our new purchases to our teacher from Nazareth who was absolutely speechless. After explaining to her the American concept of 'ugly Christmas sweaters' she seemed incredibly relieved because of how hideous she felt it was.

Anyways, it being a holiday sweater I stashed it in my wardrobe waiting to pull it out for the Christmas market in Nazareth. I packed it in my bag and was so excited to pull off my new tacky sweater for the day. In case the photos don't do it justice, it is a heck of a sweater: there's wool, black mesh, sequins, and bedazzling all on top of one another.

The second morning my teacher came knocking on our door to see if me and my roommates were up and ready. Since my roommates were occupied getting ready I answered the door to be greeted by my Arabic teacher. The exact words out of her mouth were: "Sabah al-khair-OH-GOD! You're wearing that thing?!" when she saw me standing in the doorway in my beautiful sweater. Over breakfast anytime someone would take a picture she'd rush over to me saying, "I'll stand next to the one with the ugliest sweater!".

All I can say is, I don't think ugly Christmas sweaters will be catching on in Israel anytime soon. Still, I had a blast wearing it and the stories were well worth it. Plus despite being incredibly absurd and over the top, the sweater itself is starting to grow on me aesthetically... although my mother insists the only appropriate place to wear the sweater is by myself on a train downtown in the dead of night so that hopefully something will happen to me so no one with ever have to see the sweater again.

Me standing at a beautiful vantage point nearby the Basilica. Also a closer up look at my crazy sweater.

Rooftop view of Nazareth.

A panoramic from the roof with the Basilica on the left.

Nazareth was an absolutely awesome trip. I'm so glad that our teachers decided to treat us to a little holiday spirit and take us up north for a few days. It was an incredibly beautiful area and another amazing place I'm glad I got to explore in Israel.