For the past 43 Christmases, a tapestry has hung in my mother’s home. Lately, it has come to represent a contradiction.
A gift from Ethiopia by dear friends of my grandparents, the tapestry depicts Mary cradling baby Jesus, both encircled by golden halos: it is renaissance-style imagery with both figures pale-skinned while Christ has bouncing, golden curls and bright, blue eyes.
Ethiopia was among the earliest regions to adopt Christianity, around the fourth century, according to historians. I am not an art scholar, but unlike our tapestry, religious illustrations and artwork from Ethiopia between the 14th century to the late 18th century are distinct, featuring figures with brown skin, black hair and eyes and beards.
Startlingly, they look Middle Eastern.
With Israel’s assault on Gaza stretching into its third Christmas, the idea that Christ was a Palestinian has resurfaced at protests and rallies as Christians in Gaza and the Palestinian territories in the West Bank mark the festival.
Historians and scholars of religious studies say there is not enough evidence to state precisely where Christ was born and that Palestine, despite its long history, had undefined and shifting boundaries. However, it is agreed that Christ was born in West Asia and was certainly not white.
Non-white representations of Christ and Christianity are widespread even though churches, certainly in...
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