The interior of a toy store in Ain al-Rummaneh, on Dec. 20, 2024, where Christmas gift wrapping is placed below an image of the Virgin Mary. (Credit: Laurent Selinder/L'Orient-Le Jour)
“We were told to close the stand, without even waiting for the 24th,” says Hussein*, as he removes the sign from his stall before a truck clears away his installation. It’s midday, and the Beirut sun, which has illuminated so much misery in recent months now casts its glow on the thirty or so small tents of Badaro’s “Christmas Village,” scheduled to run from Dec. 13 to 29. Read more Year-end holidays: A breath of fresh air for Lebanese merchants after a stressful year But just five days before New Year's Eve, the white picket fence at the village's entrance shuts its doors. Only a handful of curious onlookers have stopped by.“Stores don’t see the point in renting [the tents] for nearly $600,” says the owner of the Nabil kiosk, located opposite the Christmas market. “There’s no one there. There's no work this year.” ...
“We were told to close the stand, without even waiting for the 24th,” says Hussein*, as he removes the sign from his stall before a truck clears away his installation. It’s midday, and the Beirut sun, which has illuminated so much misery in recent months now casts its glow on the thirty or so small tents of Badaro’s “Christmas Village,” scheduled to run from Dec. 13 to 29. Read more Year-end holidays: A breath of fresh air for Lebanese merchants after a stressful year But just five days before New Year's Eve, the white picket fence at the village's entrance shuts its doors. Only a handful of curious onlookers have stopped by.“Stores don’t see the point in renting [the tents] for nearly $600,” says the owner of the Nabil kiosk, located opposite the Christmas market. “There’s no one there. There's no work this...
