The Christian December dish nothing to do with Christmas Stirring a giant vat, Palestinian Christian Maryam Salem prepares a special dish for the festive season. Yet this is not Christmas, but the St Barbara's Day festival. In Aboud, a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the festival is celebrated on December 17 every year, with residents believing the village to be the last resting place of Saint Barbara, a third century woman killed for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES