Jika klasikisme Kristian dan Origenisme di Caesarea-Palaestina berusaha membangunkan teologi dan falsafah tentang minda, maka ahli falsafah klasikis dan ahli teologi Kristian di Gaza berusaha menggabungkan teologi tinggi dan retorik klasik dengan agama popular serta perayaan keagamaan, yang paling terkenal ialah Perayaan Mawar Gaza. Dalam suasana santai di Gaza, ahli retorik Kristian Procopius dan Coricius turut serta dalam Perayaan Mawar (Kennedy, G. 2008: 171), sebuah perayaan musim bunga yang mempunyai sejarah klasik yang panjang dan akar pagan yang mendalam. Juga, John dari Gaza menulis dua puisi anacreontik – meniru ayat dalam metrum yang digunakan oleh penyair Yunani Anacreon (c. 582–c. 485 SM) dalam puisi-puisinya tentang cinta dan arak – yang menurutnya beliau persembahkan secara terbuka pada ‘hari mawar, dan deklamasi oleh Procopius’. Puisi oleh Chorikios dari Gaza juga ditetapkan pada hari-hari mawar (Westberg 2009: 187‒189; Talgam 2004: 223‒224).

If Christian classicism and Origenism in Caesarea-Palaestina sought to develop theologies and philosophies of the mind, the classicising philosophers and Christian theologians of Gaza sought to combine high theology and classical rhetoric with popular religion and religious festivals, the most famous of which was the Rose Festival of Gaza. In the relaxed setting of Gaza the Christian rhetoricians Procopius and Coricius participated in the Rose Festival (Kennedy, G. 2008: 171), a spring festival with a long classical history and deep pagan roots. Also John of Gaza wrote two anacreontic poems – imitating verses in metre used by the Greek poet Anacreon (c. 582–c. 485 BC) in his poems dealing with love and wine – that he says he presented publicly on ‘the day of the roses, and declamations by Procopius’. Poetry by Chorikios of Gaza is also set at rose days (Westberg 2009: 187‒189; Talgam 2004: 223‒224).

Pada abad ke-6, 'Hari Mawar' diadakan di Gaza sebagai perayaan musim bunga yang mungkin merupakan kelanjutan Kristian daripada Rosalia (Talgam 2004: 223‒224; Belayche 2004: 17). Di Yunani dan Rom, kalungan bunga, karangan dan dedaunan hijau telah dipakai oleh lelaki dan wanita untuk majlis perayaan. Rosaria atau Rosalia ialah perayaan mawar Rom yang disambut pada pelbagai tarikh, terutamanya pada bulan Mei. Upacara ini kadang-kadang dipanggil rosatio ('hiasan mawar') atau dies rosationis ('hari hiasan mawar').

In the 6th century, a ‘Day of Roses’ was held in Gaza as a spring festival that may have been a Christianised continuation of the Rosalia (Talgam 2004: 223‒224; Belayche 2004: 17). In Greece and Rome, floral wreaths and garlands and greenery had been worn by both men and women for festive occasions. Rosaria or Rosalia was a Roman festival of roses celebrated on various dates, primarily in May. The observance is sometimes called a rosatio (‘rose-adornment’) or the dies rosationis (‘day of rose-adornment’).

Sebagai peringatan bagi orang yang telah meninggal, rosario berkembang daripada adat meletakkan bunga di tempat pengebumian. Dalam mitologi klasik, darah dan bunga dihubungkan dalam metamorfosis ilahi. Bunga merupakan simbol tradisional bagi peremajaan, kelahiran semula dan ingatan, dengan warna merah dan ungu pada mawar dan violet dianggap membangkitkan warna darah sebagai satu bentuk penebusan.

As a commemoration of the dead, the rosatio developed from the custom of placing flowers at burial sites. In classical mythology blood and flowers were linked in divine metamorphosis. Flowers were traditional symbols of rejuvenation, rebirth and memory, with the red and purple of roses and violets felt to evoke the colour of blood as a form of propitiation.

Apabila Adonis, kekasih Aphrodite, dibunuh oleh seekor babi hutan semasa berburu, darahnya menumbuhkan sekuntum bunga. Tempoh berbunga bunga itu membingkai musim bunga. Di sesetengah bahagian Empayar Rom yang kafir, Rosalia diserap ke dalam unsur-unsur bunga festival musim bunga bagi Dionysus, Adonis dan Aphrodite (Venus Rom), namun amalan menghias dengan mawar sesuai untuk peringatan Kristian terhadap orang mati. Tradisi kafir Rom yang berkaitan dengan Rosalia ditafsirkan semula dalam istilah Kristian, dan penulis Kristian awal di Palestin memindahkan imejan kafir tentang kalungan dan mahkota mawar serta violet kepada pemujaan orang-orang kudus Kristian. Mawar pada umumnya menjadi sebahagian daripada imejan seni pengebumian Kristian awal. Syahid Kristian sering digambarkan atau dilukis dengan imejan bunga, atau dengan cara yang mengenal pasti mereka dengan bunga. Tradisi Kristian awal Palestin Byzantine dan Gaza ini turut bertahan dalam tradisi Katolik moden di Palestin.

When Adonis, beloved of Aphrodite, was killed by a boar during a hunt, his blood produced a flower. Their blooming period framed the season of spring. In some parts of the pagan Roman Empire the Rosalia was assimilated into floral elements of spring festivals for Dionysus, Adonis and Aphrodite (Roman Venus), but rose-adornment as a practice lent itself to Christian commemoration of the dead. The Roman pagan traditions associated with the Rosalia were reinterpreted into Christian terms and early Christian writers of Palestine transferred the pagan imagery of garlands and crowns of roses and violets to the cult of the Christian saints. Roses were in general part of the imagery of early Christian funerary art. Christian martyrs were often described or depicted with flower imagery, or in ways that identified them with flowers. These early Christian traditions of Byzantine Palestine and Gaza also survived in modern Catholic traditions of Palestine.

Versi moden Rosari Katolik Roma terdapat dalam nama Arab Rahbat al-Wardiyyah ("Sisters of the Rosary" / Puteri-puteri Rosari). Pada Mei 2015, pengasas Rahbat al-Wardiyyah, Sister Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, seorang rahibah Palestin, telah diisytiharkan sebagai wali (orang suci) dalam satu upacara di Vatican.24

A modern incarnation of the Roman Catholic Rosary is found in the Arabic name Rahbat al-Wardiyyah (‘Sisters of the Rosary’). In May 2015 the founder of Rahbat-al-Wardiyyah, Sister Marie Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, a Palestinian nun, was proclaimed a saint at a ceremony in the Vatican.24

Dilahirkan di Baitulmaqdis, Maryam Sultanah Danil Ghattas (1843‒1927) – Marie Alphonsine selepas menyertai Kongregasi St Joseph of the Apparition – telah mengasaskan pada tahun 1880 Rosary Sisters, kongregasi biarawati wanita yang pertama, yang berdedikasi untuk menghapuskan buta huruf dalam kalangan wanita tanpa mengira agama, pendidikan dan kebajikan sosial di Tanah Suci/Palestin. Hari ini, Christian Arab Sisters of the Rosary, dengan sokongan Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, mengendalikan empat puluh dua buah sekolah di Palestin, Jordan dan Israel. Sekolah-sekolah ini mendidik pelajar Arab Muslim dan Kristian (Jansen 2006: 59).

Born in Jerusalem, Maryam Sultanah Danil Ghattas (1843‒1927) – Marie Alphonsine after she joined the Congregation of St Joseph of the Apparition – founded in 1880 the Rosary Sisters, the first female congregation of nuns devoted to eradicating illiteracy among women regardless of faith, education and social welfare in the Holy Land/Palestine. Today the Christian Arab Sisters of the Rosary, supported by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, run forty-two schools in Palestine, Jordan and Israel. These schools educate both Muslim and Christian Arab students (Jansen 2006: 59).