A small group of Sarnia residents adapted traditional Christmas carols to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza during the First Friday event downtown.
The caroling demonstration, held between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on December 5th, aimed to encourage the community to pause and reflect on the suffering in the region.
Ten participants gathered for the demonstration, though plans to carol by candlelight were quickly abandoned due to the cold wind. The group’s message focused on the violence in Gaza, which participant Micheline Steele described as "suffering a genocide," and the unprecedented violence in the Occupied West Bank.
The group felt that as Christmas approaches, a time to celebrate Christ's birth, people—both religiously observant and not—cannot look away while these atrocities continue. Steele questioned how Christians, in particular, reconcile the violence perpetrated on the Palestinian people with the teachings of Jesus.
The carols sung were traditional songs familiar to many in the West, but they were adapted to reflect the anguish the Palestinian people are experiencing and the community's silence. The song adaptations were created by Ruth Johnston, the group’s senior member, who is 85 years old.
“We’ve grown up in the West with a narrative that excludes the Palestinian experience at best and more often vilifies them,” Steele explained. She noted that the caroling was an effort to reach the Sarnia community and hopefully cause some to pause.
While some people hurried past in the cold, others offered words of encouragement, "thumbs up," and applause.
