I
have already talked about the Christmas belén market in Seville (you can read
about it here). Now I´d like to introduce the belén itself to you in detail,
too.
In
almost every Spanish family´s home at Christmas time there´s a little place for
the Nativity Scene. These were already present way before the trees themselves
came into fashion. However, while in English the word ´nativity scene´ implies
the stable where the Baby was born, Belén is Bethlehem in Spanish, which
basically means the whole town! Therefore they don´t stop at recreating the
Créche but include everything else that was happening at that time in the town
of Bethlehem.
The
first thing you have to set up for your belén is the misterio, this is the
basic but most important part. It includes a crib for Baby Jesus (you are only
supposed to put the actual baby in after you come home from Midnight Mass),
Mary and Joseph. Then you can add a few animals, too, maybe an ox and a donkey.
We will need an Angel, too. On your next trip to town you might bring home a
herd of sheep with the shepherds who might be facing towards the stable.
The
Three Wise Men are also essential, although you will need two sets of them. The
first set will start off on their camels from the palace of Herod (you might as
well buy those, too, throw in a few soldiers as well, to look the part). Every
day you will have to place them a step closer to the stable as they slowly make
their way to see the Baby during Advent. When they arrive on 24th
December, you have to swap them to the second set which hold the presents in
their hands.
From
here on only your imagination is the limit. You can buy houses with little
curtains included, inns with people sitting around the tables, street markets
where many different kind of vendors are selling their wares, or farmers
ploughing their land in the background. In the old days children used to
collect the wrapping paper from sweets to make a river or steal coal pieces
from train tracks. Nowadays you can buy everything all ready for you.
If
you need inspiration, just go around the many displayed belén scenes or walk through
the Ruta de Belén. You will always know where to find them as usually there´s a
long queue in front of them. In some of them they even darken the room at certain times to imitate nightfall. After a few minutes the light slowly comes up
again, a new day has arrived. You might even get to see some special
collections made by a famous belén artist.
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