Most of Israel may be on holiday in August, but in Jerusalem
things begin to heat up and not just the weather.
After the three sad weeks leading up to Tisha B’Av,
mourning turns into serious celebrating,
with wedding season and festival time.
During the first week of August,
the Israel Museum hosted a successful Israeli Wine Festival.
Festivals once again range from,
an International Puppet Festival to a beer festival at the end of the month!
Schools are out and summer camps are over,
so it is time once again to keep the kids busy.
Khutzot Hayotser, The International Arts and Crafts Fair,
near the Old City in the Sultan’s Pool, with its
huge stage for nightly entertainment has been held for almost 40 years.
Running from August 6-18 and similar to recent years,
food, local artists’ works and international crafts are for sale.
A relative newcomer to the August festival season is the Balabasta Festival,
held on Sunday nights in August in Machane Yehuda Market, the shuk.
Some businesses closed early,
but others were well stocked.
Balabasta seemed more small child-friendly than it was last year,
with puppet shows,
balloons,
balancing acts,
a juggler and a 5:00pm advertised start time.
By 6:30 pm, the laundry was hung and the alleyways were getting crowded.
I caught a familiar face from last year
as he was coming out of a store,
and he quickly gained new fans.
There was music of all kinds
and art of many types,
culture in Jerusalem is so varied it can be hard to define,
and to take it all in can be exhausting.
It is probably impossible to attend all the Jerusalem festivals,
but if you want to try, here are a few more suggestions and
more Balabasta photos on The Real Jerusalem Streets Facebook page.
thank you so much for sharing. Jerusalem is so special.
So many things going on it is hard to keep up!
Looks like fun. I can’t handle the heat any more.
The heat this summer is certainly part of the exhaustion felt by so many people.
Like many people, I am still having trouble with the name Balabasta.
Balabusta seems so much more like it, especially when they had a whole section with laundry hanging.
Not sure what that was all about, but last week it was not too hot and kids looked like they were having fun.
Some of the merchants who were open were not happy,
I bumped into something trying to take a picture and he scolded me.
But really who is going to buy a broom or cloths rack and schlep it around,
rugelach, now that is another story.
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These images make my day – I feel like I am part of Yerushalayim, even in Chutz L’aretz. What a gift you have given me.
Toby so glad you found The Real Jerusalem Streets, now you can see what is really happening, often what the mainstream media overlooks.
I put this blog on my Facebook page – I wanted to share the inspiration.
Thank you please come around more often!