Bethlehem Handicrafts Featured in Catholic News Agency
Bethlehem Handicrafts has been featured in Catholic News Agency for our work supporting Christian artisans in Bethlehem and bringing authentic Holy Land olive wood to Catholic homes across America.
By Perry West, Catholic News Agency
A Holy Land Shop Opens Its Doors in Colorado
A Catholic goods shop opened its first brick and mortar store in Aurora, Colorado, presenting a wide variety of merchandise that directly supports Christian artisans in the Holy Land.
The store, Bethlehem Handicrafts, is owned by the Bannoura family, who produce most of the items at their workshop in Bethlehem alongside dozens of other Christian families.
The business opened in 2000 as a website. In 2003, the Bannouras moved from Bethlehem to Denver, selling at parishes and mall kiosks throughout Colorado. After fifteen years of building the business, the family finally opened their first physical shop in Aurora on April 2.
The Story Behind the Shop
"We never showed everything in one spot because we have a lot of items. Especially now, because we carry some very large pieces, some of them even for churches," co owner George Bannoura told Catholic News Agency.
"We came to Denver, and at that time there were almost no tourists coming to Bethlehem. We collected the finished wood from various families around us and we came to Denver, and we opened here."
Most of the merchandise is carved from olive wood, a timber common to the Bethlehem region and central to Palestinian Christian tradition. The store offers olive wood crosses and crucifixes, rosaries, saint statues, and kitchenware. The shop also carries ceramics and traditional Palestinian soap from the region.
Holy Land Soil Inside the Cross
Bannoura says some of the most popular items are crucifixes with small windowed compartments filled with Holy Land soil, stones, frankincense, and dried flowers. Each one carries a piece of the Holy Land into your home.
Many pieces are made by his own family in the Holy Land, where he returns nearly every summer to help in the workshop. Bethlehem Handicrafts works with almost 400 artisans, collaborating with numerous Christian families, each with their own specialty.
"For example, we don't do much work with the crosses ourselves. We buy the crosses from a number of families. The rosaries we get from the women who make the rosaries and the bracelets. The ceramics from the community who makes the ceramic. Kitchen utensils, we have a wonderful group that does nothing but kitchen utensils for years."
Raising the Bar for Holy Land Craftsmanship
Beyond aiding individual families, Bannoura notes that the standards of Bethlehem Handicrafts have raised the bar for craftsmanship across the region.
"We have a great influence on many families on how to improve the quality," he said.
Why Christian Families in Bethlehem Need Your Support
In 2000, Bethlehem was effectively off limits to the general public due to the conflict in the region. Christians already make up a small minority of the area, and the lack of tourists devastated communities who depended on pilgrimage for their income.
"Bethlehem had closed for almost three years, and we basically had no tourists. So we had no income for three years, not just me and my family, other families as well. A majority of the Bethlehem people had no income for three years."
The conflict has driven many Christians away from the Holy Land. Without the Christian community, Bannoura warns, the ancient churches and holy sites would become closer to museums than places of living worship.
A Message of Peace
"We want to live in a peaceful community. We want to live in a peaceful environment. We pray for peace, and our Lord himself asked us to pray for our enemies. My hope is the three major religions, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian, will have Jerusalem for everyone. Jerusalem can hold the three religions."
Read the Full Article
Read the original feature on Catholic News Agency: Bethlehem emigrants open shop to support Christian artisans in Holy Land
Shop the Story
Every piece in our store was made by the same hands and Christian families described in this article. Browse our complete collection or shop by category:
Every purchase from Bethlehem Handicrafts directly supports Christian families still living and working in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ.