Christmas In Jordan

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By Sandi Savage Phillips

Eight policemen guarded the entrances to the Latin Melkite Church as Father Nabil Haddad conducted Christmas Eve mass for the 31st year in a row. Just a handful of followers braved the cold and ignored the risks of participating in the traditional Christian gathering. My husband and I, though members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, chose to support this Catholic Father and attend the holy event. Why the police presence?

Exactly one week earlier, 14 people were killed and 27 injured on a Sunday afternoon in southern Jordan, when four gunmen had a shootout with police in a Crusader castle.

The security forces of Jordan are known for swift action and protection of Muslims as well as Christians throughout the country. Officials reported the skirmish was over in several hours.

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With raw feelings from this and other recent, unprovoked attacks, Christians are on high alert more than ever. For security reasons, the traditional mass of Father Haddad was moved one hour earlier than advertised to the general public.

So there we were on Christmas Eve—two Mormon parishioners attending a Melkite Catholic Mass, guarded by Muslim Police. Amazing how people come together to show respect and be tolerance.

On a more typical day, Elder (as we call him) Phillips and I work to keep a lower profile by dressing like the locals, avoiding crowded gatherings and never discussing our religion with anyone. Our goal is to work with country officials and other NGOs in providing relief for the suffering so many here experience.

We live in a comfortable apartment, but it’s high in an office building. The space also serves as our own gathering place for Sabbath services — which we hold on Friday rather than the traditional Sunday. Between 50 and 60 English-speaking members normally attend.

In our apartment just a few days earlier, we hosted our Arabic-speaking Mormon branch of 25 local members who joined us for homemade soups, rolls, salads and cake following church. The season is about sharing our time, food and means—whether in Jordan or Idaho. We consider ourselves blessed to have so many new friends in this Arab country.

Had our own two adult sons (Rick and Ryan), who arrived on Dec. 23 and 24 of different years, been born in Jordan — we would have been presented some Mughly. This pudding is topped with crushed almonds and walnuts and is prepared for the family and offered to all who visit any newborn who arrives during the holiday week.

Christmas in Jordan is a favorite time for constant eating, whether the family is Christian or Muslim. Food is the excuse, but the family loves to gather and indulge in the culinary specialties.

Our own favorite dishes have come to include tabbouleh — a chopped parsley salad that we infuse with raisins and pomegranate seeds; and baba ghanoush—a favorite creamy eggplant dip that’s served with warm breads just out of the oven.

Many families love to buy small zucchinis and stuff them with rice and ground meat flavored with sumac. Our preference for a dill pickle substitute is stuffed vine leaves—common in the Levant (countries around Syria). The little delicacies make our mouths pucker as they are marinated with lemon juice and vinegar.

Mixed in with all the local flavors, there is American-style baked turkey and sweet potatoes available to buy or cook. Locals still prefer lamb, which is surprisingly more expensive than turkey this time of year.

We prepared a full turkey dinner with homemade rolls and pie, and shared it with the other missionary couple serving in Jordan. A few student locals here without family, were invited to join with us all for the afternoon gathering.

There are varying degrees of Christian concentration throughout the Middle East, but in the country of Jordan less than 5 percent of the population claim to be followers—still, it’s a National Holiday! Retailers want to sell gifts and food, so it’s an economic advantage to be supportive of the season. Because tourism has taken a huge hit with threats of harm to people, the infrastructure of this and other Middle Eastern countries is in bad shape—so they do what they must to make a living.

Many Muslim families like the excuse to decorate, so they celebrate the holiday right along with the Christian locals and expatriates serving in the military and State Department positions. And most seem unafraid to share a “Merry Christmas” greeting with their Christian colleagues at every opportunity.

Because of respect for their country and example of the king, Muslim Jordanians allow Christians more social opportunity than anywhere else in the Middle East. After all, this is the birthplace of Christianity—though Christian numbers in the last century have dwindled to half of what they were relative to the population. Some of the reasons for this attrition are lower birthrates than Muslims, exodus out of the country to find a better life elsewhere, and loss of life through wars.

While the percentage of followers of Jesus is small, they have a large representation in parliament, hold important jobs and have positions of trust. Nearly half of Jordan’s business families are said to be Christians, so there is great respect for their impact on Jordanian economy. We have had numerous meetings with Ministers, Muftis and educational leaders over the last year we’ve been in Jordan. At every occasion we are shown utmost respect.

One of our current assignments is with the University of Jordan. Our master’s degree candidate students appreciate having a professor from the USA. We teach about different elements of public health on the global, regional and Jordanian level.

But we are learning as much from our class as we are teaching. The students have explained in great detail about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict from their point of view. We have great compassion for the complexity of the issues that our incoming USA president will be facing—especially in light of recent UN resolutions.

On one of our last class sessions, we hosted an international food night with our students. I fixed potato salad, sloppy joes, and (of course) chocolate chip cookies representing America! Some of the students had never eaten cookies quite like these before—as their preference is for lighter, biscuit-type desserts. They made and brought all of their family specialties and we shared an evening of feasting and music.

Happy New Year from our Jordanian home to Idaho!