Bethlehem

The modern name Beit-Lahm, “House of Flesh,” is somewhat different in sound and meaning from the ancient Hebrew Beth-Lehem, “House of Bread;” but it is doubtless a popular corruption, such as one frequently meets with in Palestine. In olden times the town was called Beth-lehem Judah, to distinguish it from another Beth-lehem in Zebulun. It was also called Ephratah, “the Fruitful;” probably for the same reason that the name “House of Bread” had been given to it. . . . On the eastern brow of the ridge, separated from the crowded village by an open esplanade, is the convent, like a large, feudal castle. It is a huge pile, consisting of the Church of the Nativity and the three convents—Latin, Greek, and Armenian—abutting on its north, east, and south sides. The site is most commanding, the view from it embracing a large section of the wilderness of Judea, the Jordan valley and Dead Sea, and the purple-tinted mountain-chain of Moab and Gilead stretching like a great wall along the horizon, north and south, far as the eye can see. (Source: Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem, pp. 113, 116-119.)

Soon Bethlehem, comes into view—a white-walled village of about three thousand inhabitants, all professedly Christians. They are, however, a turbulent, quarrelsome set, ever fighting amongst themselves or with their neighbours. In the disturbances which take place so frequently at Jerusalem, it is said that the ringleaders are commonly found to be Bethlehemites. The women are remarkable for personal beauty. I saw more handsome faces here in a few hours than elsewhere in the East in many days. . . . The men are strong, lithe, well-built fellows, and I saw several young shepherds, who were models of manly vigour. Here, as elsewhere in the East, the pastoral pipe is in constant use. . . . Bethlehem stands on the crest of a ridge of Jurassic limestone. As it is surrounded by higher hills, however, the view from it is not very extensive. Jerusalem, though only six miles distant, is hidden by an intervening height; but through the valleys stretching away eastward to the Dead Sea, fine views are gained of the mountains of Moab, and from the flat roof of the Latin Convent part of the Dead Sea itself is visible. (Source: Those Holy Fields, pp. 42-43.)

The Christmas festivals . . . are to Bethlehem what the Easter ceremonies are to Jerusalem—the main support of the industry and manufactures of the place, which depend upon the production and sale of pilgrim wares. At Christmas the harvest is reaped for which ever since last Easter the Bethlehemite at home has been industriously preparing. . . . At Bethlehem everything can be supplied—relics, rosaries, palm-boughs, scallop-shells, crosses, and little images. Large quantities of the shell of the giant oyster of the Red Sea (Meleagrina margaritifera) are brought to Bethlehem from Suez, and there carved into the pearly scoops in which most English visitors invest. The articles most prized are the vases wrought out of the stinkstone brought from the Dead Sea. But by far the most popular wares to the pilgrims are the rosaries, of which piles may be seen heaped on the ground in front of the dealers.  . . . The great mart for all such wares is about the Church of the Nativity and in its porticoes, where the dealers sit on the pavement, and no one who values peace and quiet will attempt to evade the not unreasonable tax which is laid on the stranger. (Source: Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, pp. 136-38.)