Some gestures may have big meanings. The new government declared December 25 and 26 national holidays. Roughly 125 miles north of Damascus, in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, hooded figures dressed in black burned the community’s Christmas tree two days before the holiday. Within a day, the new authorities vowed to replace the tree’s charred remains.
In Damascus, the country’s capital, residents of the Christian neighborhood of Bab Sharqi hung up a neon sign with “Merry Christmas” in cursive lettering. As in years prior, they set out Christmas trees on the “street called Straight” (Acts 9:11, ESV) a road which for centuries has commemorated the conversion of Paul.
But disturbed by Christmas tree arson, hundreds of Christians filled the Bab Sharqi streets on Christmas Eve, carrying crucifixes and Syrian flags. Some shouted, “We demand the rights of Christians.”
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