On Wednesday, the Jerusalem Municipality announced that it would distribute free Christmas trees in the city on Monday, December 21, continuing an annual tradition of giving out the festive trees, gifted by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), to those celebrating the Christmas holiday in the holy land.
About 200 trees will be distributed at the Jaffa gate to the Old City, where the Christian Quarter is annually festooned with lights and decorations in honor of the holiday, between the hours of 9 am and 12 pm.
Every year, the JNF distributes Christmas trees to institutions celebrating the holiday, including churches, monasteries, convents, embassies, foreign journalists, and the general public.
According to the JNF, the trees used for Christmas trees are Arizona cypresses. Each JNF forest is divided into “stands” of trees identified by date of planting, tree type, and growth rate.
The process also yields many beautiful and high-quality cypress trees to be used as part of a traditional Christmas celebration. As for lights, ornaments, and tinsel, holiday revelers are on their own – but decorations aren’t hard to find, especially at Christian sites like Nazareth and Bethlehem, where annual Christmas celebrations are held for thousands of visitors.
Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat also announced that he will be hosting the city’s annual New Year’s event for leaders and representatives of Israel’s different religious communities on January 21, in the municipality City Hall.
