Families are invited to step into the village of Bethlehem to honour a centuries-old European tradition.
For the third year, St. James Catholic Church is partnering with other local congregations to bring Bethlehem to life on Dec. 14 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The annual tradition was spearheaded by St. James priest Fr. Luciano Cortopassi, originally of Italy, in 2017 and aims to bring the community together in celebration of the meaning of Christmas and raise funds for charity.
“The idea is it’s community-building and bringing people together,” said event organizer Don Gerla.
He’s one of at least 100 volunteers needed to run the event. The steering committee of 10 includes people from all faith backgrounds and they oversee the work of community members who make costumes, build structures, set up and take down the village, play acting roles in the town and serve the meal and warm beverages inside the church hall.
This year work was extended further into the community, including woodshop students at St. James’ neighbouring high school.
“Students at Holy Trinity Academy has worked this fall building some of the additional buildings for this year’s village,” said Gerla. “It’s pretty awesome to see so many people come together to bring the Town of Bethlehem alive.”
One of the new buildings will be the rabbi’s house, which will stand next to the synagogue, he said.
In addition, the village includes structures like a wine shop, candle shop, wool shop, blacksmith, and a carpentry and stonemason shop.
Each building will feature actors who play the parts of Bethlehem merchants.
“In the wine shop, they pour apple juice ‘wine’ and everyone gets to sample it,” said Gerla. “The wool shop, they’re working with wool, the blacksmith will do some blacksmithing. It’s all very real.”
Of course, the inn will have the three most important characters of the village played by a host of families with young babies as they take turns donning the personas of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, he said.
“There will be a donkey with the holy family,” said Gerla. “I’m not sure if each Mary is going to ride on it, but some will.
“The three wisemen will be on horses because we just don’t have camels.”
As they wander through the village, visitors will be treated to the sounds of music from five different community choirs, said Gerla.
But there is no entry into Bethlehem without reporting to the Roman census-takers at the gate to give a name and number for each party as they come into town, he said.
It’s really a matter of counting the number of people who come out to the Live Nativity, he said.
“The first year they had people trying to count and that was really hard, so last year we asked each group for one person to sign in,” said Gerla. “We had a better sense of how many people were there last year.”
In 2018 the village welcomed about 2,200 people, he said. He expects there could be more this year as it grows in size and popularity.
A light meal will be available in the St. James parish hall for $7 per adult, $5 per child under 12, or $25 per family, he said.
There is no entry fee, but donations are being taken at the gate for three charities: Habitat for Humanity Foothills, Seniors Secret Service, and the St. Vincent de Paul Youth Conference.
