Nazareth Village | Justin Lumiere

Justin Lumiere visits the open-air Nazareth Village in Nazareth, Israel. This destination reconstructs and reenacts village life in the Galilee in the time of Jesus.

During the village tour, Justin Lumiere visited replicas of period homes, a synagogue, Mikveh (Jewish ritual purification baths), gardens, and wine and olive presses that would have existed in Galilee village in the 1st century. Here Justin Lumiere encountered actors dressed in costumes as they acted out what people would have been doing during their daily lives two thousand years ago.

There were farmers, wine and olive makers, craft workers, including wood workers and yarn makers, as well as a family sitting together for a meal. Justin Lumiere was intrigued by the ancient craft tools that would have been used by Joseph the carpenter, Mary’s husband. One tool that Justin Lumiere found most interesting was the ancient drill used during this period.

A small rope is loosely tied to each end of a small stick and then the middle part of the rope is wrapped around a small groove in the middle of a wooden rod that contains a metal drill bit at one end. As the small stick with the attached rope is moved by hand forwards and backwards, the wooden rod spins quickly and enables the wooden drill bit at the end of the rod to make a hole into the object being worked on.