(from the correspondent Silvia Mancinelli) “From here Jesus Christ left with his apostles, here he performed the first miracle by transforming water into wine. Historians are sure of this, who have scrupulously analyzed the other Palestinian Cana, measuring the distances and considering the rocks carved along the path that leads to the cave where Jesus found shelter. And I am convinced of it, that I see thousands of tourists and believers pass by on pilgrimage ”. Ali Al Shami is a Lebanese of Muslim faith who, at the entrance to an area considered “holy”, has a kiosk full of Madonnas and rosaries.
“The valley behind me that reaches as far as Palestine is also found in the Gospel, underneath there is a grape mill where wine was made, even that described in the Holy Scriptures – he explains – In these rocks the Last Supper of Jesus is carved , his face and that of John who baptized him. “And then Our Lady, baby Jesus, the miraculous Lazarus and, precisely in memory of what is described in the Bible, the bride at Cana: signs left at the time of Christ, tells us an archaeologist, to document her passage here.
Tourists who come on pilgrimage to this place, most of them Filipino and Ethiopian Christians who work as carers and maids in Lebanon, use to tie a piece of cloth, handkerchiefs and even masks to the branches as a vow.