Race is on to gather 100 nativity scenes from around the world for ‘Nativity Festival’
One hundred nativity scenes from all around the world are being gathered together for an unusual Christmas display near Portadown.
Mullavilly Parish Church is aiming to have nativity scenes from as far afield as Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi, New Zealand, Samoa and 'the Holy Land'.
There will also be cribs from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The imaginative event is being billed as a ‘Nativity Festival’ and stems from an idea that Archdeacon Elizabeth Cairns had to reflect her love of Christmas.
She said: “A couple of years ago, I thought to myself as I was putting out my own Christmas decorations in the Rectory, and I was setting out my own Nativity Scenes which I have gathered over the years on my travels to different parts of the world, I wonder could we hold a festival that depicted the Nativity Story and how many could we possibly get or display if we ran a ‘Nativity Festival’.
"So, very tentatively, I came up with the idea of ‘A Festival of 100 Nativities’. I guess I just plucked the number 100 out of the air without giving it much thought! But there is nothing quite like a challenge.” The thinking behind the project is simple, she says.
“One of the things we all do at Christmas, is decorate our homes, inside and out, with all sorts of decorations, and yet very few families have a ’Nativity Scene’ as part of their decorations.
"This is of course the primary reason for Christmas, when we celebrate the Birth of Jesus, the One who came to be the Lord and Saviour of all, and to bring light, hope and forgiveness into a dark world.
“And so behind it all is the desire to help bring to the fore the real meaning of Christmas and encourage people to even make or purchase a very small ’Nativity’ or decoration for their own home.”
The target is to collect 100 cribs and, right now, they are at the stage of gathering them in.
She adds: “We will not know for sure just how many we will have. Getting Nativity scenes from all over the world underlines the universal message of hope that Christmas delivers.”
The variety and style of the nativity scenes are striking, she says.
“There will be modern looking nativities, and some that are being handmade, knit or crocheted or painted by our parishioners and friends. Some may well look a little unusual, but with closer inspection the story is there.
"Some will be large and some will be as small as 2-inch square. One that stands out for me comes from a friend in northern Sweden. My friend makes jewellery items from moose antler and he has carved the nativity into a whole antler and sent it to me.”
The festival takes place in Mullavilly Parish Church just off the A27 on the main Portadown-Tandragee road on Thursday 26 th November (10am-8pm), Friday 27 th (10am-
8pm), Saturday 28 th (10am-6pm) and lasts until Sunday 29 th November (2pm-6pm).
If you would like to help the church reach their target by lending a nativity scene for the festival, please contact Archdeacon Elizabeth Cairns on 07719857187.