We concluded our visit to Bethlehem at a shop with items made by Christians in the Holy Land.
I won't say much in this post. I just show off many of their items and the general layout/size of the place.
One thing that stood out after spending time in this shop and after spending time at shops in the Old City of Jerusalem is that the two groups of vendors tend to be a bit competitive, if not resentful of the others. Shops like this get dedicated shoppers from pilgrimage trips. The vendors in the Old City don't like that. They want more business. But the shops the pilgrimage busses visit tend to be confirmed Christians who own the businesses and produce the items. The vendors in the Old City vary. The Christians there really want to maintain a Christian presence of shops. But many of the vendors, even in the Christian Quarter aren't Christian. Among those vendors, some of them point out that the real Christians will have a cross on their business card, where non-Christians would never have such a thing on their cards. One can sometimes tell by what they sell. Some suggest looking for Christian names of shop owners. If there's a Peter or similar names, that's considered a good sign...according one at least one of them. How true are these indicators? I'm not totally certain.
I won't say much in this post. I just show off many of their items and the general layout/size of the place.
One thing that stood out after spending time in this shop and after spending time at shops in the Old City of Jerusalem is that the two groups of vendors tend to be a bit competitive, if not resentful of the others. Shops like this get dedicated shoppers from pilgrimage trips. The vendors in the Old City don't like that. They want more business. But the shops the pilgrimage busses visit tend to be confirmed Christians who own the businesses and produce the items. The vendors in the Old City vary. The Christians there really want to maintain a Christian presence of shops. But many of the vendors, even in the Christian Quarter aren't Christian. Among those vendors, some of them point out that the real Christians will have a cross on their business card, where non-Christians would never have such a thing on their cards. One can sometimes tell by what they sell. Some suggest looking for Christian names of shop owners. If there's a Peter or similar names, that's considered a good sign...according one at least one of them. How true are these indicators? I'm not totally certain.
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