Festivals and Nerd Festivals

We just celebrated two interesting festivals here: Yom Hatzmaut, Israeli Independence Day and Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day. Today, actually, is Jerusalem Day, which is a celebration of the unification of Jerusalem as one city since 1967.

Israeli Independence Day was mid-May, and celebrates Israel's independence since 1948. Just like our July 4th holiday, every single Israeli must have a bbq on Yom Hatzmaut. These bbqs are held in every square inch of green space possible. The smoke from the local parks was so strong, it was actually hard to see into the parks when we passed them! Here's a pic from a local park of the bbqs. Notice that people set up camping tents in these urban city parks, as well!



I have to say that Israeli Independence Day was one of those days where I actually really enjoyed being here. Everyone was in a great mood, and very celebratory and happy. We had friends over for lunch from my school, and we walked about a half an hour to a downtown neighborhood (Rechavia) to enjoy the a "living history" festival. There, we met family friend Nurit, and walked around.

Nurit grew up in Jerusalem, and really gave us some great background on the living history festival. During some of the one-act plays, she said to us, "oh yes, I remember these events." There were 10 spots of historical significance, and live one-act plays in front of each venue. The actors portrayed real historical characters and conversations that they might have had. For example, there were actors pretending to be the Prime Minister and the Purchasing Minister talking about Opera and politics, in front of the park next to where they both lived. Supposedly, the Prime Minister played opera so loudly that all the neighbors could here. It was really cool to see these plays. Also, actors walked the streets as new immigrants, asking for directions, as town visitors from the outlying (new) kibbutzes, and other characters. Here are the kids and Nurit at the Israeli Independence Day "living history" festival.





Today is Yom Yerushalayim. We didn't actually do any Jerusalem Day events, as most of them, interestingly, occur tonight after kiddos go to bed. What we did do this afternoon, was go to the Hebrew Book Fair in Jerusalem. It is a series of book fairs around the country where book publishers set out their books at discounted rates.



Since Israel is a relatively small book selling market, books are priced ridiculously high. People wait all year for the book week to buy their books. So, we went to the one in Jerusalem. I have to say, it was a true nerd fest. In what other county in the world would you find all these people, throughout the country, looking at books, and loving it?