• The ban on nearly all non-Israeli travelers is meant to slow the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant

BETHLEHEM: Musicians banging drums and playing bagpipes marched through Bethlehem on Friday to the delight of smaller than usual crowds — a mix of conviviality and restraint reflected in celebrations around the world on a Christmas Eve dampened once again by the coronavirus.

Travel restrictions imposed by Israel — the main entry point for foreign visitors heading to the occupied West Bank, home to the traditional birthplace of Jesus — kept international tourists away for a second year.

The ban on nearly all non-Israeli travelers is meant to slow the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant.

Instead, authorities were counting on the Holy Land’s small Christian community to lift spirits.

It was a theme seen around the world as revelers, weary from nearly two years of lockdowns and safety restrictions, searched for ways to return to rituals that were called off last year, while still celebrating safely at a time of surging cases.

“We can’t let the virus take our lives from us when we’re healthy,” said Rosalia Lopes, a retired Portuguese government worker who was doing some last-minute shopping in the coastal town of Cascais.

She said she and her family were exhausted by the pandemic and determined to go ahead with their celebrations with the help of safety measures like vaccines and booster shots, rapid home tests and wearing masks in public. She planned a traditional Portuguese Christmas Eve dinner of baked cod.

That spirit was alive in Bethlehem, where Mayor Anton Salman said the town was optimistic that 2021 would be better than last year’s Christmas, when even local residents stayed home due to lockdown restrictions, and marching bands paraded through empty streets.

This year, hundreds of people gathered in the town’s central Manger Square as a line of bagpipe-and-drum-playing bands streamed through the area. Later, Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the top Roman Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land, waved to well-wishers as his motorcade made its way through town. “This year we see a lot of people, very crowded, and a lot of joy,” he said.

AP