Celebrating Christmas with passengers from all over the world
Think you’ll have to spend Christmas Eve alone, waiting at your gate until your flight leaves? Think again! Because here at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol we also have a Christmas service for our passengers. Airport Chaplains Marieke Meiring and Joop Albers will be sharing the Christmas spirit on 24 December at 18:30 in the Meditation Centre.
Everyone is welcome
The Christmas service has been held at our airport for six years now. ‘Christmas is a time to be together, including at Schiphol’, says Airport Chaplain Marieke Meiring. And although Christmas is a celebration based on Christian tradition, everyone is welcome. ‘It’s for any passenger who wants to enjoy the Christmas spirit. It makes no difference what religion you belong to, or if you aren’t religious at all.’
Come and go as you please
The Christmas service lasts 45 minutes and will be given in English. The chaplain will read the Christmas story and we will of course sing well-known Christmas carols, led by two trumpeters from the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. After the service, passengers can enjoy some wine or chocolate milk with a piece of traditional Dutch Christmas bread. ‘Because we’re at an airport and passengers need to catch their flights, it’s no problem if you leave early or come in late’, Marieke explains. ‘During the service you may also use the Meditation Centre for your own prayer or meditation as usual.’
Celebrate Christmas with passengers from all over the world
What’s this kind of Christmas service at Schiphol actually like? ‘Very special’, Marieke says. ‘The feeling of connection has always been strong at the Meditation Centre, but it’s even stronger at Christmas. For passengers it’s a bit of a home feeling before they arrive at the place they love to be most during the holidays. And the wonderful thing about a Christmas service at an airport is that all sorts of people attend. You’re celebrating Christmas with people from different continents, young and old, religious and non-religious, people who are flying for the first time and others who travel every week. You really don’t see that anywhere else.’
The Meditation Centre is located at the beginning of Pier F (near the information desk in Departure Lounge 3, next to gate F2). If you have any questions about the Christmas service or our Airport Chaplaincy, please feel free to call 020 601 4098 at any time or send an email to luchthavenpastoraat@schiphol.nl