Easter Sunday was another late start, breakfast was a 2 pm lunch at Nagibe’s house. The guest of honor was Pare Antoine, a priest in an order called the Lebanese Monks, though he didn’t look very monkish in his snazzy clothes, gold watch and cellphone that rang every ten minutes during dinner (unfortunately since I can’t understand what people are saying I am forced to judge them on appearance alone). As I learned, the LM are a very wealthy and powerful religious order and though they do live of a live of celibacy, poverty and whatever the third defining principle is, they enjoy a strong presence in Lebanese politics. According to what was translated to myself and Jean Paul, he was predicting the end of Christianity in Lebanon, that as a shrinking minority they would soon be forced out of their position of political power (the law dictates that the president has to be Christian) and would become second-class citizens (dhimmis) under Muslim rule. Apparently Kissinger had previously tried to convince all the Christians to leave the country with copious monetary compensation, in order that the Palestinians could have a place to live (because he was a Jew! I was reminded). Ohhh how fear breeds prejudice.
[The priest did gain some street cred, however, with his story about how during the civil war a group Palestinians tried to assassinate him and other priests in his order. They succeeded in beheading a few and hanging a few others by their belt strap (unfortunately my aunt Renee’s uncle was one of them) but he was sick in a hospital and thus survived.]
Lunch was delicious. Swiss chard (which we were told to ignore because better things awaited us), the usual kibbe stuffed with lamb but somehow better than any other kibbe I had eaten, stuffed grape leaves, both eaten with fresh labne, chicken that nobody touched, and raw veggies. Dessert was all the usual fruits and sweets, plus an extra towering platter of ma’amoul, fattening cookies stuffed with dates, pistachios or walnuts.
After the meal I returned to the house with J&E while JP went with his parents to do last minute errands before he had to pack and leave on his own 3 am flight. Around 7 I went with Eli to meet them at church for Easter mass and was surprised to see that except for a few baby girls in flouncy floral dresses, the crowd was very casually dressed. On the way to the mass Eli gave me a short lecture on the importance of Easter in the Christian faith, since he knows I am a heathen and likes to keep me educated—it is the most important holiday of the year (because without the resurrection of Christ there would be no religion) and in addition to being called Eid al-Fis’h (Feast of Easter) it is also called Eid Kabiri (the Great Feast). Great Feast indeed. That night was dinner at 11 pm, leftovers from Good Friday’s lunch. My aunt and uncle refused food, as they were full from lunch, and I actually ate some of the meal, yet my uncle still told me I ate like a bird. I can’t win.
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