Christmas in Bethlehem

How Christmas is celebrated in Bethlehem

Bethlehem lies in the West Bank, about 10 km south of Jerusalem, and since 1995 has been administered by the Palestinian Authority. Christian tradition, drawing on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, holds it to be the birthplace of Jesus, and for centuries pilgrims have come to the town for Christmas. Christians were once the large majority of its people; today they are a minority, with recent estimates of between about 12 and 16 per cent of the city's population, but Christmas remains the town's defining season and much of its economy depends on pilgrims and visitors.

The season follows a familiar pattern. In early December the town's large Christmas tree is lit in Manger Square in a public ceremony with music and speeches, attended by Christians and Muslims alike. Streets are hung with lights, and nativity scenes appear in churches, shops and homes. The high points are the arrivals of the patriarchs of Jerusalem on each Christmas Eve, led into the town by marching scout bands, and the night services at the Church of the Nativity. Christmas is known in Arabic as Eid al-Milad, the feast of the Nativity, and both 25 December and 7 January appear on the Palestinian public holiday calendar.

The Church of the Nativity and the Grotto

The Church of the Nativity stands over a cave venerated as the place where Jesus was born. The first church on the site was begun in 326 under the Emperor Constantine and dedicated on 31 May 339. The present basilica dates largely from the rebuilding ordered by the Emperor Justinian I in the sixth century, and the cave beneath it is described as the oldest site in Christianity in continuous use for worship. Visitors enter by the Door of Humility, a doorway so low that most people have to stoop; the larger entrance was walled up in the Ottoman period, to stop horses and cattle being driven in.

The silver star

Steps beside the altar lead down to the Grotto of the Nativity. Under a small altar, a fourteen-pointed silver star is set into the marble floor, inscribed in Latin Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est, "Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary". Installed in 1717, the star was removed in 1847 and replaced in 1853. A few steps away is the Chapel of the Manger.

A church shared by three communities

Under the Status Quo, the arrangement that has governed the holy places since the 1850s, the Greek Orthodox Church owns most of the basilica, the Catholic Church, through the Franciscans, and the Armenian Apostolic Church hold smaller parts, and the Coptic and Syriac Orthodox have limited rights of worship. In 2012 the site was inscribed by UNESCO as the Birthplace of Jesus: the Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem, and placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger. After a major restoration that began in 2013, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee removed it from the danger list on 2 July 2019.

Christmas Eve: the Latin Patriarch's procession and midnight Mass

On 24 December the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, the senior Catholic bishop in the Holy Land, makes a solemn entry into Bethlehem. In 2025 Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa set out from the Patriarchate in Jerusalem, stopped at the Monastery of St Elijah on the road south, and was formally welcomed at the entrance to Bethlehem near Rachel's Tomb by the town's parish priest. He then walked along Star Street, traditionally held to be the way Joseph and Mary came into the town, behind more than twenty scout groups, to Manger Square, where the mayor and municipal officials received him.

After Solemn Vespers in the early evening, the midnight Mass is celebrated in St Catherine's Church, the Catholic church that adjoins the Church of the Nativity, and the church is filled to capacity. At midnight the bells ring and a figure of the Infant Jesus is unveiled after the reading of the Gospel of the Nativity. At the end of the Mass the Patriarch carries the figure in procession down to the Grotto and lays it in the manger beside the silver star.

Three Christmases: 25 December, 7 January and 19 January

Because the churches that share the basilica use different calendars, Bethlehem keeps Christmas three times each winter. The Orthodox and Armenian dates follow the Julian calendar, which currently runs thirteen days behind the Gregorian calendar used for civil purposes.

On 6 January the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem arrives at the Church of the Nativity, again greeted by scout bands parading through Manger Square, for the Orthodox Christmas Eve services; the Coptic and Syriac communities celebrate on the same dates. The Armenian Church in the Holy Land is the only community to celebrate on 18 and 19 January, keeping the ancient practice of marking the Nativity and the baptism of Jesus together on the Julian date of 6 January. The Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem comes to Bethlehem on 18 January to lead the services in the basilica.

Shepherds' Field in Beit Sahour

East of Bethlehem, the town of Beit Sahour is the traditional site of the fields where, in Luke's Gospel, angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds watching their flocks. There are two main sites. The Catholic Chapel of the Shepherds' Field, a tent-shaped church designed by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi, was built by the Franciscans in 1953. Nearby, the Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Shepherds, Deir el-Rawat, holds its own grotto and the remains of an ancient church commemorating the same event.

On the afternoon of 25 December the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land continue an old pilgrimage: they begin at the Orthodox site, with a Litany of the Saints and a Gospel reading in Arabic and Latin, go on to the Franciscan grotto, where the Gloria is sung, and return to the Basilica of the Nativity.

Christmas in Bethlehem from 2023 to 2025

After the war in Gaza began in October 2023, the heads of the churches in Jerusalem urged their communities to forgo unnecessary festive activities, and Bethlehem's public Christmas celebrations were cancelled. In 2023 there was no large tree and no Christmas lights in Manger Square, and no concerts or marching bands. The religious services went ahead: the Latin Patriarch still made his Christmas Eve entry, and the scout groups marched in silence. Christmas 2024 was marked in the same subdued way, with no major public festivities.

In December 2025, following the ceasefire in Gaza that took effect in October, Bethlehem held its usual public celebrations for the first time in three years. The Christmas tree in Manger Square, decorated with red and gold baubles and topped with a red star, was lit on Saturday 6 December 2025 before thousands of people. On Christmas Eve the scout bands again played as they marched through the streets ahead of Cardinal Pizzaballa, and thousands gathered in Manger Square, most of them local residents, with far fewer foreign pilgrims than before 2023. Cardinal Pizzaballa called for "a Christmas full of light", and the mayor, Maher Canawati, described the tree lighting as a reaffirmation of community, unity and faith.

Christmas places in and around Bethlehem

Christmas food in Bethlehem

Christmas meals in Bethlehem draw on Palestinian home cooking: stuffed vegetables and vine leaves, rice and lamb dishes, and trays of biscuits for the stream of visitors who call to exchange greetings. The dishes below are those described by Bethlehem cooks, including the chef Fadi Kattan.

Bethlehem Christmas season dates 2026–27

The 2026 date of the Manger Square tree lighting had not been announced at the time of writing; it is usually held on a weekend in early December. New Year falls in the middle of the season, between the Western and the Orthodox Christmases, and is a time for visits and greetings across the town; for New Year wishes and status images, including free 2027 cards and quote images ready to send on WhatsApp or Instagram, see our sister site.

Christmas in Bethlehem: frequently asked questions

Christmas in nearby countries