Baptism of Nora & Oscar in river Jordan

Today, we said goodbye to our son/bother/stepson and guide Alex. He helped us to the end by finding the correct bus stop for Tiberias on the sea of Galilee.

We realize on the bus that we need to be careful with Google maps since it says buses back depart after 1700, but then we read the small print, and it's 1700 on Saturday. Today, Friday, the last bus back is 1600, so since on the way here we arrive 30 mins late, we only have 3.5 hours here, less time for two taxis, and a bit of buffer, that was 2.5 hours.

In that short time, we made a short visit to a kibbutz, baptized Nora Skye and Oscar Bernard, and hung out in a hippy cafe.

The kibbutz , called Degania Alef, was founded 110 years ago. It started modestly with 8 settlers, and now it's home for 400 adults and 200 children. I remember in the 70s and 80s, one of the popular hippy travel destinations was Israeli kibbutz. It had a cooperative hippy image, though I am not sure what the reality was. More recently, settlements on the West Bank are established with settlers at the other end of the political and cultural spectrum.

An old lady riding an electric wheelchair gives us a quick informal history and explanation of how buildings have been used over time. This kind of being helpful to strangers/ lost tourists is something we often experience.

We then head for Yardenit to see the site on the Jordan River where it's claimed John the Baptist started the ceremony. The Jordan River is quite green and pretty, and we can see from where it leaves the sea of Galilee, the white robes of Christians being baptized in the river, i.e., the whole body goes under the surface.

We ask at a shop on the site if we can baptize Nora Skye and Oscar. The assistant tells us there is no priest on duty, but we can do it ourselves 🙄. So we do!

The background is that whilst Lennox and Lola were baptized in Saanen, we failed to get our act together for the younger two. That's only in part due to the complex logistics of getting Ethiopian, US, and Swiss godparents in the same place at the same time. Mostly, we just didn't push hard enough for an agreed date.

I am a hard-core atheist, but I still see value in children having God parents. Though it's more like a special aunt or uncle than anything to do with God.

We watch some Americans to check the procedure, and we define Flo as "priest" and myself as cameraman...and off we go..."In the name of the father, son [pause as Flo regains her composure after getting understandably emmotional]...and holy ghost, I baptize you Oscar Bernard McGillivray, [ dunk Oscar],....In the name of the father, son and holy ghost, I baptize you Nora Skye McGillivray, [ dunk Nora]. Then the kids swim a bit and have photos taken.

Religious ceremony complete we head over to Rob Roy, a hippy cafe on the river, to celebrate the baptisms with ice cream and cold fizzy drinks.

Then we head back to Tel Aviv. Everything is closed, big shops, small shops, and even McDonalds. Nothing, absolutely nothing open. They take the sabbath super seriously here. We heard it's different in Tel Aviv. Let's see when we get back at 1805.

We reach Tel Aviv, and to our relief, some restaurants are open, but not that busy, so we head for Akbar in Jaffa, and again, we gave super food and beer.Читать далее