Surprise! It’s not Easter 🐣 in Jordan 🇯🇴 Today

You can imagine my surprise when we arrived at church ⛪ today only to discover that churches ⛪ in Jordan 🇯🇴 follow the Eastern Orthodox calendar— it was Palm Sunday!!  We attended St. John the Baptist Church, the site of where John the Baptist was beheaded. The service lasted more than 2 1/2 hours and we stood for most of it.   The palms look very different than the ones we share on Palm Sunday. 

Desert 🐫 Hospitality

I had the honor of spending three days as a guest of a Bedouin family located in the Twersi Village in southern Jordan 🇯🇴. My family is part of a tribe that lived in goat 🐐 hair tents or local caves up until the 1980’s. The entire time I wore my scarf as a hijab 🧕 and dressed conservatively. Highlights of my visit included a family meal of rice and chicken 🍗 eaten while sitting on the floor using our fingers, no utensils, and a wedding.  For two nights the men celebrated in one tent by sitting, talking, and eating. In the women’s tent we danced, ate and sang. Upon arriving at the women’s tent, many women removed their hijabs and dressed in western styled dresses and clothing. Gunshots announced the arrival of the bride the second night, escorted by the groom. Hours later he returned to exchange rings and escort the bride home. Again, we enjoyed a delicious meal of goat 🐐 and rice while sitting on rugs. Hospitality at its finest!