From DC to the Vatican, baby Jesus is wearing a keffiyeh
St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood is one of several churches across the country that have created crèches called "Christ in the Rubble." Featuring the baby Jesus wrapped in a black-and-white checkered keffiyeh, the crèche is intended to remind Christians that if Jesus were born today, he would be born under the rubble. (Photo courtesy Lindsey Jones-Renaud)
The scene representing the birth of Jesus is a common December sight, artfully arranged on church lawns or entryways across the country.
But in some churches this year, the nativity crèche is looking a bit different.
The manger has been replaced with a pile of rocks, and the baby Jesus is swaddled not with a thin blanket but with a black-and-white keffiyeh, the Middle Eastern-style scarf that has become a symbol of Palestinians’ resistance to Israeli aggression.
