COVID-19: Look how Christmas 2020 is celebrated around the Middle East

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COVID-19: Look how Christmas 2020 is celebrated around the Middle East

How Christmas is being celebrated amid the global COVID-19 pandemic with hope and light

Published: December 23, 2020 13:55 Compiled by Nilanjana Javed, Senior News Editor

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Christmas in Saudi — Expats living in Saudi Arabia choose Christmas decorations at a gift shop in the capital Riyadh. Image Credit: AFP

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Christmas in Middle East — People buy Christmas hats from a shop selling various items for Christmas celebrations in Riyadh. Image Credit: Reuters

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Christmas in Middle East — An Iraqi woman, dressed as Santa claus, distributes gifts to children in the old city of Mosul, Iraq. Image Credit: Reuters

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Christmas in Middle East — An Iraqi woman, dressed as Santa claus, plays with children, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease in the old city of Mosul, Iraq. Image Credit: Reuters

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A Christmas tree in Beirut — A Christmas tree with names of those who died during Beirut port explosion, is seen near the damaged grain silo, in Beirut, Lebanon. Image Credit: Reuters

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Christmas in Beirut — A man dressed as Santa Claus, entertains children at Beirut Souks, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon. Image Credit: Reuters

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Christmas in Middle East — Issa Kassissieh, better known as the Santa Claus of Jerusalem, rides a camel inside Jerusalem's Old City. Image Credit: AFP

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Christmas in Jordon — The wife of Saad Polus Qiryaqoz, a 56-year-old Christian refugee from the town of Bartella in northern Iraq's Nineveh plain, prepares Christmas cookies at their new home in Jordan's capital Amman. Up until 2014, when the Islamic State group swept the Nineveh Plain in northern Iraq, Christians had pulled out the stops over Christmas with celebrations lasting a whole month. More than 66,000 Iraqis live in Jordan, forced out in waves by conflict, starting with the 1990 first Gulf War, the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and the 2014 emergence of IS. Of those, between 12,000 and 18,000 are Christians, according to Wael Suleiman, who heads the Catholic charity Caritas in Jordan. Image Credit: AFP

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Christmas in Jordon — A woman displays gifts in her store ahead of Christmas at a mall, amid fears over rising numbers of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Amman, Jordan. Image Credit: Reuters

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Christmas in Bethlehem — An Orthodox priest walks in the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The church was re-opened for prayers following strict COVID-19 restrtictions imposed by the Palestinian authorities to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Image Credit: AFP

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Chirstmas in Bethlehem — Children walk in front of shuttered shops in a street decorated ahead of Christmas, in the biblical city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Image Credit: AFP

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Christmas in Middle East — A man dresses up as Santa Claus rides a camel at the Global Village, in Dubai. Image Credit: Reuters

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