A Walk to Remember

Well, I’m willing to bet that I had a more interesting and authentic Palm Sunday than anybody else reading this right now. Palm Sunday in Jerusalem is an event, let me tell you. We met at the Upper Gate of the Center at 1:30 and walked over to the Church of Bethphage. There were children lining the sidewalks on the way waving and shouting one of the three English words they know… “HELLO!!” The closer we got to the church, the thicker the crowd got. Tour bus after tour bus was setting free hundreds of eager tourists wearing matching bright yellow hats or the same T-shirt, or some other item of clothing to identify them with their group amongst the throng. Man guys, this was prime people-watching—people from literally all over the world and every sect of Christianity coming together to commemorate Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
So there’s supposedly this unspoken “competition” every year to see who amid the crowd can come up with the biggest palm branch to carry through the streets. Children kept bombarding us with palm fronds and olive branches for sale and many of the students bought a large palm frond to carry. I didn’t have any small change, otherwise I would have bought a palm frond. But I was content to take lots of pictures. Guess who ended up with the biggest palm frond? Of course, a BYU student. Daniel Ostler could hardly keep his buttons from bursting with pride over his 6-foot palm frond.
We finally made it to the Church of Bethphage and filed into the church with hundreds of others to see the stone that Christ supposedly stepped on to get onto the donkey. Then we all lined up and waited for the parade to start at 2:30. There were these guys there with guitars and tambourines and drums, playing an awesome “Hosanna” song that soon the whole crowd was singing. Even though we didn’t know the words, we joined in and danced as the Christian scouts of Israel filed past with flags at the head of the parade. The music was RAD.
We finally joined in the parade and started the walk from the Church of Bethphage to entrance into Jerusalem through Lion’s Gate (also known as Stephen’s Gate because it is believed by some to be the gate that Stephen was brought out of and stoned.) We got distanced enough from the little “band” that we took out our hymn books and started singing hymns. The mass turned into a mesh of song as each religious group started singing their songs as loud as they could. Behind us was a group from Greece with a loudspeaker. We really couldn’t compete with them. It was funny. Along the way I talked to some folks from Oregon and a Catholic Priest from Boston who is here on Sabbatical. It was just so dang cool!
We walked for about 2 hours (normally a 30-minute walk) until we arrived at Lion’s Gate. The parade actually ends at St. Anne’s Basilica and the Pool of Bethesda (probably my favorite place in Jerusalem visited thus far).
What an experience!
Speaking of crazy experiences, the other day a few of us decided to get out and tackle Mt. Zion. Mt. Zion has the Dormition Abbey (supposedly where Mary lived after Christ’s death), the Upper Room (supposedly the scene of the Last Supper), and the Armenian and Jewish quarters are in that area as well. We first went to the Tomb of David, which was cool, and then headed for the Upper Room. When we got to the Upper Room there was already a group of Asian tourists there, I think they were Evangelicals. Anyway, guys, the upper room was really neat. It felt very special to me and I really liked the feeling there. So we were looking around and enjoying the feel and pretty soon this tourist group started singing. It was a nice song and I was happy to see that other groups sing everywhere they go besides the Mormons. Before long though, their singing started getting louder and louder. They formed into a circle and one man went into the middle and started chanting. Pretty soon they were all wailing and screaming and babbling in strange tongues. The man in the middle would go and put his hands on someone’s head and they would start wailing and rocking back and forth and crying out in weird languages. Man, it was pretty bizarre. I had to leave. It kinda gave me the heebie-jeebies. Anyway, after that we read in our handbook that some people associate the upper room with the place where the Spirit came down on the Day of Pentecost and people were speaking in tongues. So that explained a little bit, but it was still kinda freaky. I’d never been exposed to anything like that before. It was a learning experience.
After the upper room we went to the Dormition Abbey, which is beautiful. After the Dormition Abbey we walked around the Jewish quarter for a bit. It’s nice. We got the most delicious ice cream bars I have ever eaten. There called nok outs and boy are they tasty. On our way out of the Jewish quarters we stopped in a little museum that’s all about the 3rd temple and the rebuilding of it. They had a model of it and everything…it was pretty interesting. The Jewish man working there was very orthodox, wearing the phylacteries on his forehead and everything. I wonder if those would give me headaches, or at least get annoying. I guess that’s kind of the point though, so that you’ll remember them.
Two days ago I went into the Old City with some folks to get money. We ended up exploring a bit and found this awesome Order of the Knight Hotel, or something in the Old City. It was pretty sweet. It’s so fun just wandering around the city and seeing what you find. You could be here for a hundred years and not see everything there is to see. Anyway, after that we walked over to West Jerusalem and got the best shwarma and falafels I’ve had yet. Absolutely delicious and about as big as my head. After that we went to a couple of the high buildings in West Jerusalem and rode up the elevators to the tops. At one building we struck up a conversation with the security guard who was from Columbia. We talked with him in Spanish for about an hour and I probably understood 50% of the conversation. I really need a refresher course. But it was so cool. And then when we went up to the top of the building we started talking with some Argentines who had been living in Israel for 27 years teaching theater workshops! Cool, huh? For some reason it was easier for me to converse with the Argentines. But I’m planning on auditing Spanish next semester I think…it’s so useful! You can use it wherever you go! After that we went to the dessert waffle place AGAIN. This is becoming a very dangerous and expensive habit. You have to eat them to understand. I’m hosting a waffle party when I get back. Everyone’s invited. We got a taxi back and our driver was my favorite cab driver yet. We spoke some Arabic with him, but his English was pretty dang good. He was nice and we had a dance party with him. Good times.
Conclusion: I wonder if anywhere else in the world gets such an eclectic mix of people from all places, religions, and backgrounds. It’s unique history and religious draw makes Jerusalem so unique in every way. I’m so grateful to be here.