As we were standing there, we saw a shepard and a camel "walking" through the orange orchard towards us. Gradually, we saw that they were made of paper maché and being carried! They had been commissioned by the Bishop for the evening's ceremony but serendipitously arrived while we were planting! 
After some inspiring hymns (see me at right singing a "duet" with Bishop Thomas),
we got to work inscribing 200 bible verses in English and Arabic on to small pieces of paper. The Bishop had personally chosen them as messages of hope for the n
ew year. Tonight each person will get one to take with them. Then Anna Clara (one of the Swedes living here) and I supervised a group of nuns and girls visiting from El Qussira in baking around 200 Lucia buns (Swedish advent buns with saffron; we had to add tumeric because we didn't have enough saffron, which added a somewhat strange taste to the buns...). It was a hilarious sight with all of us up to our elbows in yellow dough and flour flying everywhere. We decorated them with honey when they came out since they are fasting until Epiphany and cannot eat any animal products (we usually spread egg yolks on top to make them shiny). 
In the evening there was lots of hymn singing instead of the normal 8 pm service and I was asked to read aloud the translated version of some of the psalms that they were singing in Coptic, which I felt honored to do. I left after a half hour or so of the chanting and came back at 10 pm for the mass, which the Bishop sped up to only 90 minutes instead of 2 hours in order for there to be time for a meditation before midnight. At 11.55 pm we all went forward and threw incense on the embers of a large pit placed in the front of the church, silently making our wishes for the new year, we each took a bible verse out of a basket, and everyone who wanted got a blessed loaf of bread (I saved mine since is has a cool stamp on it with Coptic letters). At midnight everyone lit a candle and wished each other Happy New Year! This was followed by a feast, since they had been fasting since 3 pm (Copts always fast for 9 hours before receiving communion). It was by far the most interesting and peaceful new year's eve I have ever spent!
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