Holy Fire

     Every year, the day before Easter, Orthodox Christians gather in Jerusalem to participate in the ceremony of the Holy Fire. The Orthodox Patriarch enters the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and repeats prayers that have been handed down for centuries. A light then appears in the tomb and continues to grow until if forms a column of fire. The Patriarch lights his candles, exits the tomb, and lights the candles of others around. From here, the fire spreads like, well, like wildfire! Everyone lights each other's candles and it gets passed all around the church and then down the packed streets. If I thought the streets were crowded for Good Friday, it was nothing compared to during the Holy Fire. I have never been more smashed against complete strangers in my life (and hope to never go through that again.) As the fire neared us and everyone was reaching and shoving to light their candles or touch the flames of others, we all just looked at each other and thought "This is insane. This is seriously the worst idea I have ever heard of." The real miracle of the day is that no one caught on fire. 

Taylor was nice enough to be our third so we could out to the procession. It ended up being a really good thing he was there. He got us a great spot at the front of the crowd and helped us navigate through the masses.

The procession was awesome! There were bagpipes and drums and this guy twirling a stick like crazy. I don't know how to express how little room there was but once again, I feared for my life.

There were the cutest boy scouts! This one is my favorite.

This is actually once the crowds started thinning out. 

Right before we headed home it started raining. Hard. Once again, it's a good thing we brought Taylor! He stole us some plastic bags so we could cover our stuff, made us ponchos, and then we waited it out until it slowed down a little. 

    It's days like these where I feel like this whole experience is just surreal. People save their whole lives just to come to Jerusalem for this one ceremony and here I am. I hope I never take for granted the experiences I have had and all I've been able to see while here.

Until my next adventure,

Lindy