Kemeriahan menyambut Hari Raya Natal bukan hanya dirasakan negara negara kristen Eropa atau Amerika. Diberbagai belahan dunia tanpa terkecuali Jazirah Arab moment indahnya natal tak kalah meriah. kemeriahan moment natal terlihat di tempat-tempat umum seperti toko, mal, restoran, tempat permainan anak, hingga hotel. Di Dubai bahkan ada festival yang digelar untuk menyambut Natal.





Tahukah anda dimana pohon natal termahal didunia berada? di New york, London, Tokyo, Paris? bukan, pohon natal termahal ada di dunia Arab, tepatnya di Abu Dhabi, Uni Emirat Arab, negara dengan hampir seluruh penduduk mayoritas muslim tersebut.



Pohon natal ini berdiri di lobi hotel Emirates Palace. Dilansir laman Arabian Business, pohon cemara setinggi 13 meter itu dihiasi busur perak dan emas, juga hiasan berbentuk bola dan lampu-lampu putih kecil.

Tak hanya itu, pohon tersebut juga dihiasi kalung, anting dan perhiasan lainnya yang terbungkus di cabang-cabangnya.
Khalifa Khouri, pemilik Galeri Gaya, yang menyediakan perhiasan tersebut, mengatakan bahwa pohon itu menampung 181 berlian, mutiara, zamrud, safir dan batu mulia lainnya.
"Pohon itu sendiri nilainya sekitar US$10.000 (Rp135 juta)," kata Hans Olbertz, General Manager dari Emirates Palace.

"Perhiasan yang dijadikan dekorasi memiliki nilai lebih dari US$11 juta (setara dengan Rp149 miliar)," ujarnya.
Olbertz juga menambahkan bahwa hotel tersebut berencana untuk mendaftarkan pohon mewah tersebut dalam buku Guinness World Record.

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Berikut moment moment natal di timur tengah atau jajirah arab:

hohoho,Christmas Is a Big Hit in Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Like millions of children around the world, Annaseema Peshimam dutifully wrote her letter to Santa Claus in early December, promising she had been a good girl all year. The five-year-old asked for a Mermadia doll, and requested “some things for Shahlale, my sister ... She is too small to write.”

Unlike millions of fellow Santa letter-writers, Peshimams are not Christian but Muslim.And they live in Karachi, the teeming megacity in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Qatar hotels strive to balance National Day and Christmas festivities

The Four Seasons hotel also held Christmas festivities on Dec. 3 on its lawn, with Santa arriving on the beach by jet ski. Its tree, which was in the garden, was taken down due to several other events being held at the hotel.

It will be re-installed in the hotel lobby on Dec. 19, a hotel official said.

“It’s all about striking a balance,” Marketing Director Julian Crane told Doha News.

While the hotel’s other Christmas decorations will remain throughout its public areas, the lobby will be dedicated to National Day with a centerpiece of flowers in the color of the Qatari flag.






In Iran, Muslim youth are 'even more excited about Christmas than Christians'

Christians make up less than 1 percent of Iran’s population. And yet the storefronts in Iran’s cities are full of Christmas decorations. So who is supposed to buy them? According to our Observers, the holiday has become very popular with Iranian youth, regardless of their religion.

In recent years, Iranian youth have not only taken to celebrating Christmas, they’ve also begun observing holidays popular in the Western world like Valentine’s Day and Halloween as well as revived many long-forgotten Iranian holidays, like Mehregan, an autumn harvest festival.