“You can see that the river is quite muddy,” she said as she pointed to the timid murky flow, “but it’s actually not dirty, because there’s so many bends in the river.” Her audience nodded and one girl complained it was too hot. Meanwhile, a group of young Americans sat in the shade of some palm trees on the bank and listened to their guide, an American woman wearing a safari hat and khaki desert trousers, who explained the significance of the holy Jordan River. Three times – in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.īaptism at Qasr al Yehud, West Bank. One by one, they descended into the water, knelt in front of the priest and crossed themselves before he placed his hand on their head and immersed them in the water. The women, their heads covered, lined up on the steps, some holding young children by the hand. He emerged with closed eyes, gasping for breath. Barely five meters away on the opposite shore, two Jordanian soldiers looked on from the shelter of a reed-covered platform – no visitors had come to visit their side of the river yet that day.Īs the pilgrims sang, the priest slowly descended into the muddy water, which reached only to his thighs, so that he almost had to lie down to immerse himself fully. The priest, a tall figure with shoulder-length hair and a beard, intoned a hymn and the pilgrims joined in, bowing their heads in prayer. ![]() ĭressed in white gowns, the group of Russian pilgrims gathered silently by the steps that led into the river. ![]() Listen to the Origins podcast History Talk : The Syrian Civil War: Alawites, Women's Rights, and the Arab Spring. On the Middle East: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Islam in Egypt The Sunni-Shi'i Divide the Alawites and Syria U.S.-Iranian Relations U.S.-Iraq Relations and Turkish Politics. ![]() On Religion: The Changing Face of Global Christianity. On Rivers and the Environment: Who Owns the Nile? The World Water Crisis The Changing Arctic Climate Change and Human Population Global Food Crisis Over-Fishing and Rome's Rivers. Francesca de Châtel travels to the banks of the most holy and contested transboundary river in the Middle East and looks at the causes of the Jordan River’s demise and what is being done to restore it. Over the last 60 years, however, the river has fallen victim to the ongoing regional conflict and been reduced to a polluted muddy stream. As the site of the baptism of Jesus Christ, the Jordan River is the source of all holy water in Christianity and has for centuries attracted pilgrims from across the world.
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