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Itongadol.- The Holiday of Holidays Festival in Haifa is celebrating its 20th anniversary with hundreds of cultural events – art, music and dance, as well as fairs, conferences and food during four weekends in December. The stormy weekend that brought snow to Israel and the region did not spoil the celebration, which is spread over four consecutive weekends in December at the Beit Hagefen Arab Jewish Center, the Wadi Nisnas Jewish-Arab neighborhood, and the German Colony in downtown Haifa.
The Beit Hagefen Arab Jewish Center and the Haifa Municipality initiated the festival in order to promote tolerance and mutual respect among religions in the city through art and culture. Every year tens of thousands of visitors come to take part in the colorful and joyful street celebration that combines art, music, theater, children\’s shows, fairs, conferences, concerts and outdoor events and fine Mediterranean cuisine.
The Holiday of Holidays Festival is a tradition that, winter after winter, decks Haifa in holiday attire, highlighting its unique feature – good neighborly relations among all faiths and communities in the city.
This year, in honor of the 20th anniversary, it was decided to updgrade the festival website, documenting all the artists and works that created the mosaic of the Holiday of Holidays over the years.
At the issuing of a stamp dedicated to the festival, Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said: "The Holiday of Holidays is the only holiday ever invented by a city, in which real peace has reigned between all segments of the population for 110 years." Noting its longstanding tradition, Mayor Yahav said, "Haifa is a city of peace. This tradition was laid down by Hassan Shukri, the first mayor of Haifa, nearly a century ago. He was a brave man and a great leader. Those celebrating with us identify with the peace and the way of life which for us are so natural. I only ask myself, where did we go wrong? Why haven\’t we managed to spread this way of life, the way of peace, throughout the Middle East? "