SYRIA: Syrians erect a 37-metre-high tree to light up the city of Sednaya during Christmas

Record ID: 279112

  • Title: SYRIA: Syrians erect a 37-metre-high tree to light up the city of Sednaya during Christmas
  • Date: 21st December 2008
  • Summary: (NIGHT SHOTS) MOTHER MILAJIA SAYYAF, CHIEF OF MAALOULA CONVENT, SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MOTHER MILAJIA SAYYAF, CHIEF OF MAALOULA CONVENT, SAYING: "This is the start of the Christian year. Eight days later after Jesus' birth the first day of the Christian year starts. So it is the beginning. The green tree symbolises a new epoch that has been found with t
  • Embargoed: 5th January 2009 12:00
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  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVAF0DQCXFO7VQTUUOADUGINWCXZ
  • Story Text: Overlooking the city of Sednaya, some 25 km north east of Damascus, a 37-metre-high tree was erected to light up the skies of the city during the Christmas holiday.
    For the 4th year, hundreds have arrived to Sednaya to take part in the lighting-up ceremony of the tree on Saturday (December 20).
    The tree was built, erected and decorated by members of the city's Scouts youth movement, who've spent three months installing it.

    "The tree has a trunk and required an engineering study to be able to build it so high. The tree is 37 meters high and I think no one in Syria can erect a tree that reaches so high and has a trunk to hold its branches," said Samir Nasser, the chief of Sednaya's scouts.
    Once in place, the tree was lit in a special celebration of Christians and Muslims on the foothills of the Sednaya Convent, a 1,600 year-old building rising 1,500 meters above sea level.

    "This is the start of the Christian year. Eight days later after Jesus' birth the first day of the Christian year starts. So it is the beginning. The green tree symbolises a new epoch that has been found with the birth of Jesus Christ," said Mother Milajia Sayyaf, head of Maaloula Convent.
    The evergreen tree was decorated with lights and other ornaments, while children and adults were dancing to the sound of Christmas songs.

    "It is the joy and it is a light for the entire world. We light a tree in every home so it can bring peace to our homes," said Baydaa Ilia, an Iraqi woman who attended the ceremony.
    Some estimates say Christians in Syria make up around 10 percent of the country's total population, with the majority belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church.
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