| BETHLEHEM OLIVE WOOD: a piece of the Holy Land |
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These handicrafts are carved from the wood of Bethlehem’s sacred olive trees, also called Roman trees, so named because they have been living in Bethlehem and bearing fruits since the time of Jesus and the Romans. Olive trees grow in many parts of the Holy Land but the richness and textures of the Bethlehem olive wood are not matched anywhere else. Bethlehem olive wood is heavy, dense and durable with distinctive colors that range in nuances of red and creamy pigments with irregular gray, brown, and wild black lines. Bethlehem olive wood is a local raw material from which mainly religious, historical, and artistic articles are made, using the prunes of young olive trees, and the sprouts from the trunks of the old, unproductive trees—an essential process for a healthier growth for the trees and to generate environmental stability. |