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The Milk Grotto is a chapel built into a cave of soft white chalk, a short walk from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
Tradition holds that the Holy Family hid here before the flight into Egypt, and that a drop of Mary's milk turned the rock white.
For centuries pilgrims, Christian and Muslim alike, have come to the cave, especially mothers praying for a child or a safe birth.
The Milk Grotto is a gentle, human place in the Christmas story, where the Holy Family is remembered simply as a mother, a father and a child in need of shelter.
It has become a place of prayer for mothers and for couples longing for a child. Pilgrims come to leave their prayers here, in a cave that honours the tenderness of Mary and the vulnerability of the newborn Lord.
What is the Milk Grotto? A white cave in Bethlehem linked to the Holy Family.
Why do people pray there? Especially mothers and couples hoping for a child.
Where is it? A short walk from the Church of the Nativity.
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