Analysis
The Leaven on the Door’s Capital: A Custom and a Priest, Bethlehem 1776-1781
By L'équipe Levantine Lives ·
At Bethlehem, a rite accompanied certain weddings: leaven was placed on the capital of the newlyweds’ doorway, the bride struck it once, and the groom then struck her hand so that, it was said, she would bear children. On 17 December 1776, the priest Fr. Antonio Maria da Vicenza entered in his register the betrothal of Kalil, son of Damian abu Danein, and Maria, daughter of Aaisa. The marriage waited almost five years. It was another priest, Fr. Bernardino da Carelli, who published the banns in September 1781, celebrated the marriage on the 23rd of that month on the same page of the register, and who, before the ceremony, obtained from the couple a promise to abstain from the leaven. On the day, he stood at the door of the house himself, to see with his own eyes:
Prima che si sposassero promisero di non mettere lievito sul Capitello della porta, e farlo battere dalla Sposa acciò si secondi la [orilba ?] con un colpo, che li dà il Marito. ciò non ostante andai in persona per trovarmi all'ingresso della Casa, e si trovarono senza tale superstiziosa cerimonia. partito, che fui si sollevarono contro li Parochi e fatta uscire la donna Sposa misero il lievito lo battè e lo Sposo battè la mano della Sposa acciò porti figliuoli.
Before they married, they promised not to place leaven on the capital of the door, nor to have it struck by the bride so that the [undeciphered word] might be furthered by a blow given her by the husband. This notwithstanding, I went in person to be present at the entrance of the house, and they were found without such a superstitious ceremony. Once I had left, they rose up against the priests and, having brought the bride out, they placed the leaven, she struck it, and the groom struck the bride’s hand so that she would bear children.
The doorstep was bare as long as the priest stood there; it no longer was once his back was turned. In the same note, he lets his anger burst against his own parishioners, in a sentence that is his, not the site’s:
Ecco la fede de' Birbanti Bettlemitani senza ragione, senza coscienza, e mezzi Cristiani, ladri, Ingannatori, finti, crudeli, inimici della Croce.
Such is the faith of the Bethlehemite rascals, without reason, without conscience, and half-Christians, thieves, deceivers, dissemblers, cruel, enemies of the Cross.
Further on in the same register, the same priest faced the same custom at another wedding: that of Hanna Elkasis’s nephew, Hanna Ebn Juseph Elkasis, with the daughter of Simone Elkasis, whose given name cannot be read with certainty. This time the prohibition was issued as a formal precept in the betrothal entry itself, three weeks before the ceremony:
Li fu proibito sotto precetto il lievito sopra la porta della Casa, il beletto ed il nacus con tutte le altre usanze superstiziose, ed inutili.
They were forbidden, under precept, the leaven above the door of the house, the face-paint and the nāqūs, along with all the other superstitious and useless customs.
The affair turned to uproar. The priest notes, in a "Nota" added below the entry, stones being thrown, before finally marrying the couple:
Gettarono pietre alla [finestra ?] e molte altre indecenze; poi […] cortesi, e domandato scusa almeno in apparenza gli sposai.
They threw stones at [the window?] and [committed] many other indecencies; then (...), [having turned] courteous and asked forgiveness, at least in appearance, I married them.
A neighbouring entry, eight days later, shows that a priest’s precept could meet an answer more radical than stone-throwing. Zaide, daughter of Abrahim of the Shepherds, married Antun after making her profession of Catholic faith. Two months later, the same priest writes that she had gone back, at the instigation of her sister-in-law and of a priest, finding it hard, she said, to stand at the Franks’ prayers and on her knees. He records her words:
disse voler morir greca.
she said she wanted to die a Greek [Orthodox].
At Bethlehem, then, this is not a community rejecting its priest’s authority on principle: it is a custom upheld by those who practised it, and a contest played out again from one wedding to the next, between an imported discipline and a domestic custom of the doorstep.
Cited sources
- BSC-SPO-1776-i400-02
- BSC-SPO-1781-i442-02
- BSC-SPO-1781-i443-01
Ottoman Holy Land Christian Communities Project, "The Leaven on the Door’s Capital: A Custom and a Priest, Bethlehem 1776-1781," accessed 30 August 2026, https://levantinelives.org/en/carnets/levain-chapiteau-porte-bethleem/. Version cited: snapshot from 30 August 2026, hash 54536129c19f+de1b0b.
Cite this record.
Reference (Chicago style).
Ottoman Holy Land Christian Communities Project, "The Leaven on the Door’s Capital: A Custom and a Priest, Bethlehem 1776-1781," accessed 30 August 2026, https://levantinelives.org/en/carnets/levain-chapiteau-porte-bethleem/. Version cited: snapshot from 30 August 2026, hash 54536129c19f+de1b0b.
See the BibTeX and RIS formats
@misc{levantine_levain_chapiteau_porte_bethleem,
title = {The Leaven on the Door’s Capital: A Custom and a Priest, Bethlehem 1776-1781},
author = {{Ottoman Holy Land Christian Communities Project}},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {https://levantinelives.org/en/carnets/levain-chapiteau-porte-bethleem/},
note = {Snapshot 2026-08-30, hash 54536129c19f+de1b0b, id levain-chapiteau-porte-bethleem},
urldate = {2026-08-30}
}TY - DATA TI - The Leaven on the Door’s Capital: A Custom and a Priest, Bethlehem 1776-1781 AU - Ottoman Holy Land Christian Communities Project DA - 2026/08/30 PY - 2026 UR - https://levantinelives.org/en/carnets/levain-chapiteau-porte-bethleem/ ID - levain-chapiteau-porte-bethleem N1 - Snapshot 2026-08-30, hash 54536129c19f+de1b0b Y2 - 2026-08-30 ER -