TEL TAMR, Syria (North Press) – On Sunday, hundreds of Assyrian residents in the Tel Tamer town, north of Hasakah, northeastern Syria, celebrated the Assumption of Mary in the Church of Virgin Mary in the town, amid the escalation of the Turkish bombardment on the area.
The Assumption of Mary is one of the various Marian feasts celebrated by Christian churches around the world, and the rituals of celebration vary according to parishes, sects and countries.
The celebration was limited to the town’s church only due to the dangers of bombing.
A night after dozens of shells by the Turkish army and the armed opposition factions, the Church of the Virgin Mary in Tel Tamr was crowded with hundreds of celebrating Assyrians.
The arrivals to the church, including displaced persons who came for the occasion, performed the prayers and religious rituals of this holiday.
After the mass, Yulia Odisho, who is visiting the area after eight years of war in Germany, said she had celebrated several religious occasions during her visit.
She expressed her happiness that the Assyrians gathered to celebrate despite the bombing.
Odisho wished that peace would prevail in Syria and that the displaced and refugees would return to their homes and lands.
For more than a month, Tel Tamr town and its countryside have been subjected to shelling, which has resulted in injuries, material losses and the displacement of residents to safe areas.
Last night, more than 50 mortar and artillery shells fell on the countryside of Tel Tamr, in addition to the Turkish forces firing light bombs at different times of the night.
Reporting by Delsoz Youssef.
