Christmas in Mosul

Living rooms and shop windows aren’t the only places where decorations are meaningful features of Christmas. When Iraqi forces expelled the Islamic State from the predominantly Christian city of Mosul in 2017, the reinstitution of Christmas celebrations was a major symbol of victory. Worship was held at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the only functioning church in Mosul, for the first time in years. But the Christmas Eve gathering was bittersweet.

The Islamic State had done extensive damage to Mosul and other Christian communities during their occu­pation. They looted, demolished, and burned…