Damascus, Syria – There’s one thing completely different about Christmas this 12 months, Damascenes say.
Though the decorations might have been extra elaborate final 12 months, Carol al-Sahhaf says this 12 months’s festive temper is a lower above, lower than two weeks after Bashar al-Assad fled and his regime crumbled.
On both facet of the biblical Avenue Referred to as Straight – or al-Mustaqeem or simply Straight Avenue for brief – lights and Christmas bushes adorn the cafes, eating places, retailers and houses of Bab Sharqi, the neighbourhood nestled as much as the Japanese Gate of the traditional Outdated Metropolis.
The alleyways round Straight Avenue are bustling, with a spring-like feeling within the air as shopkeepers repaint, mud off their cabinets, and hold the inexperienced, white and black Free Syria flag.
Lights, cookies, and optimism
Al-Assad fled on December 8, and the nation erupted into jubilation that lasted for days as Syrians celebrated the autumn of the al-Assad household and the tip of greater than 50 years of brutal rule.
As these celebrations calmed, Olga al-Muuti instructed Al Jazeera, everybody turned to getting ready for Christmas, New Yr’s and Orthodox Christmas.
“I anticipate the festivities to return to their full vibrancy within the coming days,” the 29-year-old mentioned as she put collectively cookie-decorating kits within the again room of her eponymous bakery.
“After 14 years of struggle, I hope the approaching 12 months brings us peace, love, and the prospect to reside with dignity.”
From Olga’s store, a four-minute stroll down Straight Avenue results in the exuberant lights of Bab Touma Avenue, named for one more historic gate that sat within the Outdated Metropolis’s partitions.
Admiring the lights as he strolled round his neighbourhood with two associates was Akop Safarian, 72, bundled up in opposition to the chilly evening air and stuffed with cheer.
He and his neighbours had all embellished their homes and the road they lived on, he mentioned, as they do yearly, solely this 12 months he did it with a particular prayer in thoughts.
“I hope peace prevails in Syria and the world within the coming 12 months,” Safarian mentioned with an enormous smile.
‘We, as Syrians’
“We’re just a little apprehensive concerning the coming part,” al-Shahhaf mentioned as she browsed a small handicrafts stall in a restaurant within the Outdated Metropolis’s Qishleh.
Nevertheless, she added, she is immensely completely satisfied about all of the modifications in Syria.
“I’m positive that we, as Syrians of all backgrounds, can show to the world that we’re a individuals who love peace,” the 28-year-old from Jaramana mentioned.
“The horrifying scenes we noticed in Assad’s prisons … we ought to be in mourning actually, in solidarity with the households of detainees who had been killed in prisons and with the households of these whose destiny stays unknown,” Carol mentioned.
Rawad Diop, who hails initially from Safita close to Tartous, is simply plain completely satisfied.
“Alongside Christmas celebrations, I see smiles on folks’s faces that I hadn’t seen earlier than.” the 42-year-old mentioned.
“Personally, I’m very completely satisfied and really feel an inside optimism for the longer term.”
