Christian tourists flock to Nazareth Village
Pastor Dale Morgan
From The Times
May 9, 2009
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Nazareth Village built to meet demands of Christian tourists*
Sheera Frenkel in Nazareth
Nazareth Village built to meet demands of Christian tourists Christian
tourists flock to Nazareth Village A recreation of Jesus’s life is among
dozens of attractions set up to meet the new demands of pilgrims to the
Holy Land Sheera Frenkel in Nazareth A shepherd and a carpenter walk
down a hill just outside the biblical village of Nazareth. Clad in robes
and leather sandals, they stoop to examine an oil lamp and consider what
it means to be a light unto nations.
It is the type of scene that could have occurred 2,000 years ago — which
is precisely its appeal for the Christian tourists visiting “Nazareth
Village”, a re-creation of Jesus’s life in the town that he once called
home.
The site is one of dozens that have blossomed in recent years to meet
the increasing demands of Christian pilgrims. “After coming to this
country, travelling through it and experiencing the land I have a much
clearer understanding of the teachings of Jesus,” said Roger Wambold,
59, who has returned for his third visit to Nazareth Village.
Wearing homespun-robes and carrying staffs, the dozen or so workers at
the village show tourists how to plough fields, bottle wine and weave
rugs using techniques that historians and archeologists believe existed
in the 1st century. Israeli officials hope that the Pope’s visit on
Monday will cement the country’s position as the heartland of Christian
tourism. Last year 1.8 million of the three million tourists who visited
Israel were Christian; the vast majority went farther and defined
themselves as “pilgrims”.
Scores of tours have sprung up along the more traditional sites to cater
to the billion-dollar industry. Tour operators call it the “complete”
Christian experience for those who want to farm, eat, dress, and travel
in the manner that Jesus did.
For woodsmen there are “Jesus trails”, a number of walks through the
holy sites of the New Testament, while the more scholarly minded can
take intensive Aramaic courses. A plethora of goods are on sale from
olive-wood crosses to frankincense and myrrh, to plastic-wrapped donkey
dung from the hills where Jesus supposedly delivered his Sermon on the
Mount.