Christians celebrate Easter in Iraq
Christians celebrate Easter in Iraq as they have done every year, in spite of the 2003 war.
While there may be no peace and the security situation deteriorates, hundreds of thousands of Christians continue flock to church to mark the resurrection of Christ.
Churches in Iraq are not like churches in Europe, however. Most of them are surrounded by concrete walls to stop armed attacks.
These security measures intensified dramatically in the summer of 2014 when ISIS forces swept into Nineveh province in Iraq and captured the second largest city, Mosul.
This city was home to a thriving Christian community for 2,000 years but thousands were forced to flee from the terrorists. Yet elsewhere in Iraq the traditions continue, and are often even celebrated with Muslims.
In the week leading up to the Easter weekend, Muslims and Christians prepare desserts for the feast of “Alklejeh”.
They go to the church on the Thursday to commemorate the last supper, where Christ sat down to eat with his 12 disciples.
On the Sunday before, Palm Sunday, olive branches are distributed and farmers often plant them on their land, as a prayer for a good harvest. Women also dye eggs in shades of red and yellow as a sign of joy and love.
The eggs are dyed using traditional materials, for example onion skin and lentils. Also on Sunday, people eat a special kind of bread called “Tkharca Daochgan”, made from bulgur and wheat flour and colored yellow.
During the morning, people distribute the bread to the poor. After church, they return for a meat dish called “pacha”.
These are some of the traditions of Christians in Iraq and though not all Iraqi refugees share the same religion, we share a sense of love and tolerance.
Regardless of religion, Christians and Muslims are friends and family.
Easter teaches us the meaning of friendship and with that in mind, we thank the people of Luxembourg for their kindness and wish you all a Happy Easter.
Christians in Iraq and Syria celebrate Easter and pray for better days
Many of those who came to the St Joseph Cathedral were internal refugees, displaced by fighting.
They had fled Mosul and surrounding areas last year when the region was taken over by the extremists from the Islamic State group.
Since then they have been living in camps just outside Irbil’s Christian area of Ankawa.
Iraqi Christians attend an Easter mass at Chaldean Catholic church. Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled to neighboring Jordan following a spate of bombings that targeted churches in Iraqi cities in the past few years. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji (Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY)
After the service, one 63-year-old man internally displaced from the Christian village of Qaraqosh, said he was hopeful a change would come soon and that he would be able to return home.
“To the world I say: enough wars, enough killing and enough blood in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia and everywhere”
The country’s Catholic Patriarch, Gregorios III Lahham, called for war to end and peace to be installed in the region.
“To the world I say: enough wars, enough killing and enough blood in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia and everywhere. Instead of weapons let us unite on one word. Let us be all in the flow of life and resurrection,” Lahham said after Easter celebrations that took place in Zaitoun Church, in old Damascus, where Catholic Syrian Christians participated in the dawn mass.
Christians form ten percent of the Syrian population.
In both countries ISIL militants have murdered, abducted and enslaved Christians, tried to force others to convert to Islam, and destroyed churches and artefacts. In some areas Christian militia have tried to defend ancient settlements from the onslaught.