A 'cloud' covers over Orthodox Easter for Palestinians in the US

For Palestinians in their homeland, Orthodox Easter is often celebrated with church services, gifts and days of family visits. In the US, the holiday tends to be lower key, this year even more so amid Israel's war on Gaza.

"There's been this big cloud over everybody. How can we celebrate when 35,000 people have been killed?" Husam Marajda, a Palestinian-American in Chicago, told The New Arab. 

"We're brothers. It's very hard to feel joy. There's a cloud that's really killing the joy. Sure, it's a holiday, but something is missing," he said.

Marajda, who immigrated to the US from Beit Sahrour near Bethlehem in 2006 due to the economic situation, is one of a small minority of Orthodox Christians in the US, whose population estimates vary between o.o5 to 2 percent, or between 200,000 to just over 600,000 of the general US population. 

For Palestinians, the low number often means misconceptions of their faith. Marajda is often assumed to be Muslim due to his Arab background, despite Christianity originating in what is now known as the occupied West Bank. He also finds himself explaining to people about Orthodox Christianity, though it is far older than the Western Christian denominations.

It is an often frustrating though important burden for Palestinians in the US who are trying to keep their culture alive in a country where many Arabs often feel the need to stay low-profile. 

"It's our job in the diaspora to tell the stories of Palestinians. It is the duty of all Arab Christians to stand up," said Marajda.

Over the weekend, former US House member Justin Amash, currently running as a Republican for the US Senate in Michigan, posted Orthodox Easter greetings on X, formerly Twitter.

"Blessed Pascha! Happy Easter to my fellow Orthodox Christians! Christ is Risen!" wrote Amash, who announced in October, days after the war in Gaza broke out, that he had lost several relatives to Israeli airstrikes. 

"My thoughts this year are with my cousins in Gaza, who are celebrating Easter under the most difficult of circumstances. May God grant peace to His Church and allow this ancient community to endure," he continued, acknowledging the community's dwindling population in its birthplace.