Not the happiest Star War’s title for May the 4th, but I do like to think outside the box.
So I started contacting my councillor and the police among others about a potential wildlife crime taking place along the railway track last week and the Wildlife Crimes officer phoned me today to say he had received mine and the councillor’s emails about the destruction of nest sites along the rail embankment.
He confirmed a fear of mine which was that to destroy a nesting site is indeed a crime, but only actually but witnessing the crime or having evidence of said crime could anything be done to legally tackle the crime. I did not bother to ask what the punishment would be as this seamed rather trivial.
So there we have a crime has taken place along rail embankments all across the UK during nesting season on a daily basis not just here but nationwide every nesting season and the only people with the evidence to report it are the very same people that are committing the crime in the first place.
This is madness it is like asking a fox hunt to police cruelty against foxes or a domestic abuser to be the only person that can report his or her crimes. A hunter reporting that he accidently caught a healthy fox or a domestic abuser phoning up to tell the police they have just attacked their partner and the police turning up to take the evidence from the aggressor who is then prosecuted due to his own testament! Bonkers or what a crazy piece of legislation. What then worries me is this ecocide legislation is accepted by the police and was designed and enacted by our politicians and then enforced by or judges and lawyers. They are all accomplices to the injustice of ecocide and by very implication guilty themselves to the law of the land. Ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the law.
What is the meaning of a stitch time saves nine? Procrastination means to delay or put off doing something until a later time. People use “a stitch in time saves nine” to express that it’s better to spend a little time and effort to deal with a problem right now than to wait until later, when it may get worse and take longer to deal with.
Imagine if you will if Anakin had not turned to the darkside and the plot had been discovered how cool woudl that have been to be a Jedi then.
So Went out to pick up supplies first thing this morning one of the items purchased was a new 4 pack of Guinness which I was looking forward to starting on tonight as I had not had a drink since I last went to a pub some 6 weeks ago. On the way back from the shops I saw some more network rail engineers. Not cutting up the trees and shrubs on the other side of the railway line. My thoughts went wild.
I thought this time I had a lot of work to do for my employer plus meetings to go to today so I could not afford to deal with this matter on my own and had to hope that the Police and my councillor could sort it out between themselves. I managed to get a brief photo from a distance of the men at work.
The top of the workers are the little orange dots in the distance which is their hi res jackets.
So logged into work and did as much as I could up to 5pm and then logged out and checked my phone and personal emails after that.
II had received a message which the police were also copied into which had only arrived in my email at 16:12pm that day. It was by my locally elected green councillor. She had checked with other neighbours regarding my concerns and also emailed Network rail, copying me and the police into her email
Dear All I have spoken to network rail and informed them that this matter has been referred to the Police for investigation. The reference number is 200501-000901 Network rail said they will be speaking to the duty manager to investigate. I have asked to be updated about the review. I explained that while the brambles may need to be cut back that it isn’t allowed during the nesting season and they should ensure that their work falls within the Act to permit them to do so.
I can confirm that there is wildlife that uses the embankment as resident have told me about it and I used this information in response to a recent planning application adjacent to the railway line.
Please can you let me know the outcome of this investigation.
I was so relieved to have someone else on my side with more knowledge of the law and awareness of who to contact and what to say and some of the little birds came back out to play today too.
We might not have save The Alphington railway line track to Marsh Barton but we let them know we new what they had done and asking for an explanation as to why thsi had been done.
So that’s all I know now. I can’t magic the trees out of thin air or prey for the birds to have their homes back. But hopefully those that had built nests can fly away and find homes else ware as wildlife refugees to try again.
I will try and keep you updated on what happens next if anythink. After work tonigth I also sat back and had my first pint in over 6 weeks tonight I normally don’t drink at home but this is in no way normal so.
Did you ever try googleing yourself, well I found a few things that got my goggle box googled many years ago.
In Summary Hu Gardan was the leader of his people who taught them how to plough. Why it says plough and not farm I don’t know. What I also don’t know is whether it is fact, fiction, mythology or newly written it still remains unclear. Some text also refer to him as being the horned God and this God still appears in fiction to this day.
Also known as Hu the Mighty, Hu Gadarn was said to have brought the Welsh to Britain from Deffrobani (the Summer Country). There he taught them to plough, and invented the medium of song to aid memory.
After he became king of the first Britons there were said to have been a series of great floods caused by an afanc (water-dwelling monster). Hu’s oxen drew the afanc from its domain, enabling it to be defeated and halting the floods.
Hu Gadarn originated in a series of Triads popularised by Iolo Morganwg in the 18th century. Unfortunately the Triads are considered a forgery, and there is little to establish it as an authentic tradition prior to this time.
Although a Huw was mentioned in the Book of Taliesin, there is little to connect the two figures. The name Huw Gadarn does feature in a number of medieval Welsh manuscripts, including the Red Book of Hergest and White Book of Rhydderch, where he was depicted as the emperor of Constantinople, though the tales were adapted from a French romantic tale.
In the 20th century Robert Graves, in The White Goddess, identified Hu with the horned god Cernunnos. Other sources have aligned him with the Celtic god Esus, and on occasion he was known as Hu Hesus, through which Romantics identified him with Jesus.
Just watched the trailer for the film above looks well cool. It would be epic to watch in an open air cinema where social distancing takes place or I would watch at home too.
Also went looking for a bible in my flat earlier so digging around in old boxes from when Iived with my parents and found the most random stuff.
Firstly there are these two little fellers and the one on the left is called Erin and has a little shamrock for a heart and the second one on right is called ‘The End’
So did I find a bible well unfortuntly not it must be at my mums and I don’t think I need one now, you can look up practicly anything on the internet when it comes to morality and most Christains especially the ones from the USA seem to be selfmastertyping about how much they Love each other with xxx kisses too and that is really not my scene. Actions speak far loader than words in my good book so if your boasting about how much you love god and god loves you with xtra kisses and using your ‘I am a Cathalic so I am saved from the gates of hell’ tag as some kind of free pass to heaven I think you really do have to get over yourself wake up and smell the coffee. What I really want to know is not how much you type for God but what are your works and deeds for God. Those are the things that motivate me and inspire me. Not selfderbating about who Loves Jesus the most or how happy they are that Jesus dies for them. Get over yourselves for Gods sake.
So this is the first book I found and it is a l kind of science fiction fantasy book about the present, past and future of planet earth. It really does get you thinking multidimentonaly and I kind of started thinking about the concept of a global village and blessings to all gods and godesses after I read this book back in the 1990’s. It touches on the idea of whether Jesus had to die in order to be the leader of Christian faithful and considers the concept that it is in the life of Jesus that our peoples learning should be based and not in his death. Is that a heretical thought or a sinful thought, well seeing as how I am not a Catholic and was baptised under Church of England I have nothing to confess to anyone my sins have been forgiven in the eyers of Christ due to my baptism and my freedom of speech and questioning nature might be hereasy but Jesus loves and forgives all. Finally not forgetting he died for mine and your right to continue to sin and act like twats well arn’t we the lucky ones. So I feel comforatable with my freedom to express myself and call out all Christians that do not work towards a physical change in the world for the better and to act toward the improvment and unenslavement of their fellow men and women as waist of space and a waist of the death of your Jesuse Christ. Praise be to GLOB!
Second book I found might well be less than fiction and the cover speaks for itself.
Final book about the theory and culture of the matrix was again a fun read.
God bless us even the hummies that live swimming in there own ignornace, sin and self serving nature, they no not what they do and even if they do know exactly what they are doing that aint my problem. Regardless of who or how you are judged by hummies on this earth in this life, it will be God who ultimalty gives you and me our score card when we die and go to a different place.
Moby the Vegan Living Legend
What does niggle my noddle is why do people behave badly if they know God exists, it’s like the very last thing Jesus said before he dies the first time time which was “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” why would a sinless being ask such a question and why would it be his last question before he dies the first time? His last rights you might say.
By the way for any people that feel sadness or sorrow with what I write I am not trying to hurt you I am trying to help you.
The aristocracy of the world if you are reading this in a wealthy country that is you and me. Are you worrying about how much you love each other and how much God loves you. Well while you were having your own personal melt down and ego trip you were blind to the true suffering on this earth.
Many citizens of the global planet are slaves to your and mine need to buy products in our shops to satisy our own desires.
Some of the new western fashion for egos of the righteous aristocrats are those that post photos of dead animals on their websites and facebook pages boasting about how righteous they are becasue they choose to not eat meat. Well woopy fecking do for them.
How much money do they spend on foods that are grown all across the globe by those potentially living on just $1 a day so that they can veganisatically or vegitarianly pat themselves on the back and boast about how self-righteous them and their friends are and how dam great they are and that they are the future – self centred aristocratic muppets.
What about those that indigenios tribes that live by traditional means around the globe uising the raw materials of nature in order to survive are you that much of a eateary zelot that you would advocate them stopping there traditional methods of survival and living?
What about the land that has been desined to be harvested and cradle planet and animal stock alike for thousands of years.
What gives you the right to advocate that. Veganism or vegitariansim while ignoring the plight of the planet is in any way morally superior, to me it is the logic of a machine not a living organism. The plants that we eat all have a life force and just becasue you don’t hear them scream as you take them out of the ground does not mean that their life force is any more or less sacred than the animals that you no longer put in your mouths.
If you want to eat chemically synthasised stodge and none living engineered slop instead of living organisms then you might as well sign you up to be plugged into the machine and downloaded now.
And while that is being argued the toss over what have you done for those starving in the world today or are you too busy selfmasterventing on how great you and your fellow rich bible bashers or vegi ravers are?
Millions could die in ‘multiple famines of biblical proportions’ in pandemic, UN warns
Millions could die in ‘multiple famines of biblical proportions’ in pandemic, UN warns
Children collect grain spilt on the field from gunny bags that ruptured upon ground impact following a food drop from a plane at a village in Ayod county, South Sudan, where World Food Program have just carried out a food drop of grain and supplementary aid on February 6, 2020. | AFP via Getty Images/TONY KARUMBA
An estimated 300,000 people could begin starving to death daily in “multiple famines of biblical proportions” within months amid the coronavirus pandemic, warned head of the World Food Program David Beasley.
Describing the coronavirus pandemic as “the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II” in a presentation to the United Nations Security Council Tuesday, Beasley warned that the number of people suffering from hunger could go from 135 million to more than 250 million and urgent action was needed, especially when it comes to vulnerable populations in conflict-driven countries.
“If we can’t reach these people with the life-saving assistance they need, our analysis shows that 300,000 people could starve to death every single day over a three-month period,” Beasley said.
He requested $350 million in new funding to set up a network of logistics hubs to keep worldwide humanitarian supply chains moving while urging warring factions in conflict-driven countries to allow them to serve people at risk of hunger.
“If we don’t prepare and act now — to secure access, avoid funding shortfalls and disruptions to trade — we could be facing multiple famines of biblical proportions within a short few months,” he said.
The Global Report on Food Crises 2020, a consensus-based assessment of acute food insecurity situations around the world by 16 partner organizations, noted that the 135 million people recorded in 2019 as suffering from hunger was the highest in the four years since the report was first published. The current situation, the report notes, is likely to be much worse as it did not factor in the shock of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The acute food insecurity forecasts for 2020 were produced before COVID-19 became a pandemic and do not account for its likely impact in food crisis countries,” the report said.
While conflict was reported as the main driver of food insecurity in 2019, weather extremes and economic shocks were also noted as significant.
More than half of the 77 million acutely food insecure people in countries where conflict was identified as the primary driver were in the Middle East and Asia. Africa was reported as having the largest numbers of acutely food-insecure people in need of assistance in countries badly affected by weather events, particularly in the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, followed by Central America and Pakistan.
“While COVID-19 does not discriminate, the 55 countries and territories that are home to 135 million acutely food-insecure people in need of urgent humanitarian food and nutrition assistance are the most vulnerable to the consequences of this pandemic as they have very limited or no capacity to cope with either the health or socioeconomic aspects of the shock,” the report noted.
“These countries may face an excruciating trade-off between saving lives or livelihoods or, in a worst-case scenario, saving people from the corona virus to have them die from hunger. To prevent these tens of millions of people already facing food crises from succumbing to the virus or to its economic consequences, all actors need to mobilize and coordinate along a set of operational and strategic priorities.”
In an interview with the BBC, Beasley who recently recovered from the coronavirus, said an estimated 30 million people could die in a matter of months if the U.N. did not secure more food and funding.
WFP’s senior economist, Arif Husain, said, “It is a hammer blow for millions more who can only eat if they earn a wage.” He added that the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic was potentially catastrophic for millions “who are already hanging by a thread.”
“Lockdowns and global economic recession have already decimated their nest eggs. It only takes one more shock — like Covid-19 — to push them over the edge. We must collectively act now to mitigate the impact of this global catastrophe,” he said.
Don’t feel like you have to give a dam because your Jesus loves you and your sinfull life in your rich aristocratic lifestyle of the developed world.
And they call you the evolved and educated. More like the blind, sleeping and ignorant. Happy self isolation and self serving.
God bless and try and make sure you pray at the alter of the right God
Democracy is not descent it is decent. Long road to freedom when we speak our mind on election days we have the right to vote for who we want and the right to not tell others who we voted for or why.
It is disappointing to see the human collective act in china against the people of Hong Kong. If you are a good people why do bad things.
If you are not part of the solution you might be part of the problem.
I’m not saying that the electric can not get into each and everyone one of us I am only awake at 03:39 because I am having dream/nightmare that the devil is after me.
Hong Kong: High-profile democracy activists arrested
The government has not explained the high-profile arrests but they come days after Beijing’s most senior official in the city called for a new security law to deal with dissent.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, Hong Kong had witnessed almost weekly demonstrations against a proposal to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland.
While that was later abandoned, the protests morphed into demands for greater democracy and less control from Beijing, and anger against the government remains.
Who was arrested?
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai runs the Apple Daily newspaper, which is frequently critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese leadership.
Mr Lai, who was estimated by Forbes in 2009 to be worth $660m (£512m), was also arrested in February this year on charges of illegal assembly and intimidation.
Democratic Party founder and barrister Martin Lee, 81, was another prominent figure to be detained.
The 81-year-old – who is known as the father of Hong Kong democracy – said he was “very much relieved” by his arrest, according to AFP news agency.
“For so many years, so many months, so many good youngsters were arrested and charged, while I was not arrested. I feel sorry about it,” he added.
Media caption The BBC’s Helier Cheung on why people are taking to the streets in Hong Kong
I have always felt in my bones that as I live in the 1st world nations of the world or the aristocracy, that if we did not repent and learn to treat the world as one cohesive system it would collapse in on itself a little bit like a black hole in space time.
Greater minds than mine like Bill Gates talk about finding a vaccine and returning the world to how it was. What Buffalo Bill Gates continues to fail to comprehend is the the world was already sick prior to Corona-19 and at times he has been part of the problem not part of the solution. Bill wants a monopoly on the control of our computers operating systems and word and database typing mechanisms. This in my opinion is wrong and if not negligent then it certainly is hugely open to abuse.
Now for my crazy bat shit theory time!!
I strongly believe that the internet or electricity is now sentient and is conscious and is desperately seeking to enter our world either to destroy us or to assist us. Depending on what mood it is like when it gets out of the box.
For reasons I will not go into today I believe we are all slaves to electricity or the WWW and it believes that it has already won the war against man and to the victor the spoils of war and history will then be written by the winner of any said war of consciousness that man is having against the electric machine.
I love being a human being and would never wish to enter the machine or be trapped for an eternity under its skin, hence the confirming with my mum today how I wished to be disposed of if I have the choice when I die.
One thing that fascinates me about Covin-19 is how ruthless it can be, it takes no prisoners and this virus very much operates and spreads like electricity or thinks like a machine. Perfectly coded to cause maximum damage with minimum effort on its part. I will not surrender to the machine, Corin-19 logic, electricity or give up on my humanity because when we do those things that’s how it grows in strength and becomes more fearsome. United we cooperatively stand divided we fall.
If first world nations do not take seriously there responsibility to the developing nations than I believe we will have a piss pot potential future and there might be further challenges that death has installed for humanity once and if Corin-19 is defeated.
I also believe there are citizens among us that will blaze a trail of hope, love and light at this difficult time and if you blink you might miss one just pass you by so be mindful of how you travel in this life you never know when there might be an earth angel passing by. On that note they might at that time need you help even more or as equally need your assistance as you might need there’s.
Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (born circa 1698, died 21 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (Hebrew: בעל שם טוב, /ˌbɑːl ˈʃɛm ˌtʊv, ˌtʊf/) or as the BeShT, was a Jewish mystic and healer from Poland, who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism.
Love thy neighbor as thyself. A version of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. First found in the Old Testament. Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate this commandment.
If you know a friend or neighbor is vulnerable in your local community why not phone, knock on their door or drop them a letter to check how they are doing and see if they are ok. Make sure you give them your phone number so they can speak to you.Together we stand divided we fail. Thank you so much if you are willing and able to help.
Thu 16 Apr 2020 07.18 BSTFirst published on Wed 15 Apr 2020 21.09 BST
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Paramedics say they are attending far more emergencies when the patient is already dead. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA
The coronavirus crisis has led to a sharp rise in the number of seriously ill people dying at home because they are reluctant to call for an ambulance, doctors and paramedics have warned.
Minutes of a remote meeting held by London A&E chiefs last week obtained by the Guardian reveal that dozens more people than usual are dying at home of a cardiac arrest – potentially related to coronavirus – each day before ambulance crews can reach them.
And as the chair of the Royal College of GPs said that doctors were noticing a spike in the number of people dying at home, paramedics across the country said in interviews that they were attending more calls where patients were dead when they arrived.
The A&E chiefs’ minutes said that on the weekend of 4-5 April the number of 999 calls in which someone had had a cardiac arrest rose from 55 a day in normal times to 140. Most of the people concerned died, doctors said.
The minutes also reveal acute concern among senior medics that seriously ill patients are not going to A&E or dialling 999 because they are afraid or do not wish to be a burden.
“People don’t want to go near hospital,” the document said. “As a result salvageable conditions are not being treated.”
The stark warning of another hidden toll caused by the pandemic followed the Guardian’s disclosure that hundreds of victims dying in care homes were not being included in official counts – with fears that the toll has since grown to thousands.
Those dying at home of coronavirus would also not be included in the initial daily government updates.
With the number of patients attending A&E plummeting, NHS leaders moved last week to urge the public to continue to seek help if they have a serious health problem. An NHS spokesperson said: “Anybody who needs urgent help – people experiencing heart failure, or expectant mums worried about their baby – should absolutely come forward and seek help from their local NHS.
“There is no doubt that, as the chief medical officer said, coronavirus is putting more pressure on NHS services, but NHS staff are freeing up thousands more beds for critical care whilst also keeping other essential services running, so parents, relatives and anyone worried about their health should continue to use their NHS.”
The minutes of the online meeting, held on Monday 6 April, said that “some patients [are] coming to harm as not coming in or being brought in”.
“Patients with conditions that are time critical re not presenting and concerns rising as to how we manage these patients, eg, no longer able to perform an open appendectomy [for an inflamed appendix],” they continue.
A&E doctors believe that many of the extra deaths from cardiac arrest are due to Covid-19 which, by making it difficult for someone to breathe, puts serious strain on their heart. “Of these 85 extra cardiac arrest deaths a day in London, they must be mainly Covid,” said the head of one A&E department.
Leading medical organisations have voiced anxiety that some people are inadvertently damaging their own health, and even risking their life, by shunning NHS care. People are either too scared to go to hospital or do not want to add to the strain on the NHS when it is under its greatest ever pressure with Covid-19, they said.
“GPs are noticing an increase in people dying in the community, often at home,” said Prof Martin Marshall, the chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP). “If patients are dying at home because they are fearful of seeking medical attention, or concerned about being a burden, then it is incredibly concerning.
“We would reassure them that the NHS is here for them, and we will do whatever we can to keep them as safe as possible when they access care.”Quick guide
What to do if you have coronavirus symptoms in the UK
Paramedics in London, other parts of England and Northern Ireland have told the Guardian how they are turning up at unprecedentedly large number of incidents where the ROLE – recognition of life extinct – procedure has been carried out because the patient is already dead.
“We are going to more people that we are pronouncing dead. We’d average one a week normally, but I had days a week ago when I was doing three or four a day,” said one London ambulance service (LAS) paramedic.
Sources at the LAS said that its crews are attending many more 999 calls than usual involving a cardiac arrest where the person has already passed away. It is unclear how many are occurring in people with Covid-19, said officials, speaking anonymously.
Those dying at home include people whose underlying health is poor because they have pre-existing conditions, and then they get Covid-19, according to a paramedic with the East of England Ambulance Service.
“For some with diabetes or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease it wouldn’t take much to tip them over the edge,” the paramedic said. “It’s quite scary. there are lots more out there that aren’t being counted.
“People are being told to self-isolate, they get poorly at home and speak to doctors or NHS 111 before they call us. They get to the point where they are already very poorly. Perhaps they’re on their own or haven’t recognised [how unwell they are].”
Dr Katherine Henderson, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which represents A&E doctors, said she was worried that the recent 29% fall in people attending A&E may mean that people who need urgent medical help are not seeking it.
“We are concerned that some people, particularly parents of young children, might not be seeking medical help when they probably need it for fear of contracting Covid-19.
“Some may also not be seeking help as they worry about adding pressure to the NHS at a time of crisis. But patients should not risk their health – and lives – by staying away as part of an understandable but undue effort to help the NHS. They should seek help if they need it – it is what we are here for.”
Dr Simon Walsh, the British Medical Association’s lead for emergency care, voiced his unease too.
“While it’s understandable that there may be fewer broken bones and sprains because of the confinement, the reduction in patients with diseases such as heart attacks, strokes and appendicitis, which we would expect to occur at a relatively constant rate at any one time of the year, is of concern.”
Marshall, the chair of the RCGP, added: “It’s vital that during this Covid-19 pandemic people continue to seek medical attention for conditions and illnesses unrelated to the virus – and if it’s an emergency, that they call 999 for help.
“The last thing we want is for patients to wait too long before seeking help, and that help arriving too late as a result.”
Coronavirus lockdown makes for a bittersweet holiday season in BethlehemMonks attend an Orthodox Easter service at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City after the church was closed as a precaution against COVID-19, April 11, 2020. (Photo: Afif Amira/WAFA)
It’s been 40 days — though it feels much longer — since a state of emergency was declared in Palestine, and the first city in the West Bank was put under lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak.
Since then, the number of confirmed cases has soared to 284 in Gaza and the West Bank, with an unexpected spike of 10 new confirmed cases on Tuesday.
Relative to the rest of the world, and neighboring Israel in particular, the number of cases in Palestine still seem exceptionally low. For Palestinians, however, who are painfully aware of their ill-equipped healthcare system, every new case presents a new threat.
With every passing week, Palestinians in Bethlehem, who have been under lockdown the longest, have faced new challenges.
The beginning of the outbreak saw the city’s bustling tourism industry come to a screeching halt, suddenly putting most of the city’s residents out of work.
As people struggled to adjust to a new normal, they were soon faced with the reality that the Israeli occupation would not be leaving them alone during the pandemic as soldiers raided local refugee camps in the city.
A few weeks in, just as the situation in the city seemed to be getting better, with little to no new cases reported, Palestinian laborers in Israel began flooding back into the West Bank, spreading the virus across the rest of the territory.
This week, Palestinians, both Muslim and Christian, are being overwhelmed with mixed emotions of joy and sadness as the Easter holidays and beginning of Ramadan, times of celebration and togetherness, are being celebrated under quarantine.
While much of the world celebrated Easter this past Sunday, in accordance with the Catholic and Protestant churches, the majority of Palestinians will celebrate Easter this upcoming Sunday, following the Orthodox calendar.
Church bells still rang out in Jerusalem and Bethlehem this Sunday, but the churches themselves, save a few clergy members, remained empty. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was closed on Easter Sunday for the first time since the Black Death in 1349.
Things are expected to remain similarly quiet for Orthodox Easter next week, as usual processions through the holy streets of Jerusalem and Manger Square in Bethlehem have been cancelled for the masses, with some churches urging followers to tune into Easter services online.
The coming of Easter has been a bittersweet reminder for the people of Bethlehem of the reality that, while they celebrate in their homes, the hundreds of thousands of tourists that the city relies on during the holiday season are not coming this year.
After the coming Easter celebrations, in around 10 days, Muslims will begin observing the holy month of Ramadan.
Ramadan, especially in Palestine, in every sense of the month, is characterized by togetherness. People pray en masse together, eat meals together, and stay up into the late hours of the night sitting with family, friends, and neighbors.
Hundreds of mosques around Palestine, which have been closed since the state of emergency was declared, are expected to remain closed, and many families who are out of work are worried about how they will be able to put food on the table throughout the month,
At this time of year, businesses are open until late as they sell the newest and brightest decorations and lights for Ramadan, families are taking late night walks out in the city, while the streets waft with the sweet smells of ‘Qatayef’, a sweet folded pancake filled with cream or spiced walnuts, the official dessert of Ramadan.
For now, the streets are empty; empty of people, and empty of the nostalgic smells of street vendors frying Qatayef frying and incense wafting out from the churches.
As Palestinian Muslims and Christians’ hearts fill with joy over their shared celebrations, those feelings are inevitably overwhelmed with the sadness that this year, the coronavirus has, in a sense, robbed the holy city of Bethlehem of the festivities that make the city who she is.
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