Festival of Nativities
A traditional part of our Christmas time is the annual Festival of Nativities our Stake puts on. This year was as spectacular as ever. Not only do we adorn the cultural hall with hundreds of nativities from around the world, the entire church is transformed into Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and scenes from home.
The Primary room is turned into Bethlehem with a huge stable, complete with hay, a manger and baby Jesus. The ceiling is transformed into a starry night and the walls adorned with scenes of old. People from throughtout the community can bring their children here to dress their children as shepherds, wise men, Joseph and Mary and pose in front of the stable. There are Christmas trees from each ward full of ornaments that each primary child has hand crafted. Lights twinkle as the children play with hands on nativities and puzzles acting out what might have happened that special night in Bethlehem.
The childrens nursery room was turned into a carpenters workshop with activities making little mangers complete with baby Jesus, coloring pages of nativity scenes, and other things. The room was filled with the smells of fresh cut pine and a real carpenter demonstrated how to sculpt with wood. The walls and ceiling again were covered to resemble Jerusalem. The chapel is filled with music throughout the 3 day display of nativities from school choral groups, ward choirs, and other talented individuals willing to share their talents. On the final day, a live nativity scene is played outside with a program and music for those brave enough to withstand the cold temperatures. (I was a wimp) It's a great way to begin the Christmas season.
a>
6 comments:
What a good idea to have the room SMELL like pine! I bet that adds to the realness of the whole thing! Do they use candles or fresh tree branches? Being in Vancouver, probably trees.....
I love the smell of real pine:) I like how they have a room for the little kids to do activities in!
That sounds really neat! I can't believe that they have som many different kinds of rooms. That is too neat! Merry Christmas!!
No candles or real trees because of the fire hazard.....they only use fake trees. I wanted to get pictures of the primary room with the stable because it's so incredible, but the time I took my camera the room was wall to wall people so it was too hard to get pictures.
So how did they get the room to "smell"? Real branches?
The shaved wood from the trees makes it smell......the man demonstrating shaved it.
Post a Comment