In Marcellano (PG)
the Living Nativity
you can’t see it, you live it!
December 25th/January 6th
Forty candles for the Living Nativity of Marcellano. And it’s a party. And it’s a nativity scene. The most exciting, the most sought after in Umbria, and beyond. Between evangelical stories and popular imagination, a small Bethlehem is ready to come back to life in the heart of central Italy. Marcellano on the other hand, due to its particular shape and the splendid landscape that surrounds it, represents the ideal location for the settings of an Outdoor Living Nativity Scene. In the timeless village in the province of Perugia which stands on a gentle slope of hills, the most awaited event of the year returns on 25, 26 and 29 December, and again on 1, 5 and 6 January. Six evenings in which – from 5.45pm onwards – visitors will be literally transported to the Palestine of 2,000 years ago, among magical settings and fairy-tale atmospheres: in short, in Marcellano you don’t see the Nativity Scene, but you are inside the Nativity Scene! And you enter almost without realizing it, while walking among the crowd through the small streets, from the prison to the synagogue, from the blacksmith to the bakery, from the potter to the oil mill, when suddenly all that festive liveliness stops to listen: a true listening to the Word but done with the eyes.
In short, here you can feel something different compared to other similar events scattered along the Peninsula, a feeling that goes even beyond the care of the performances, the splendid views of the village and the passionate participation of all its inhabitants. About a hundred participants, dramatizing over thirty traditional scenes in the streets of the town, will recall the anticipation of the Event which, in a rebuilt stable outside the walls, will be repeated when Mary and Joseph stop there to spend the night. Among the narrow alleys and small squares of Marcellano, the venues – which remain almost closed for the rest of the year – will come alive with the life of the past. And so already from the 4pm local opening of all the shops… and as soon as darkness falls the nativity scene comes to life with the scent of lavender which will precede the herbalist’s shop, while the clanking of the iron on the anvil beaten by the blacksmith will spread among the commoners; the women will liven up the markets with fruit, cheese and fish, while the cheerful voices of their children will echo through the town; the taverns, the oil mill and the bakery will attract hungry travellers with their scents, and groups of curious people will stop in front of the carpenter who, with an ancient and original pedal lathe, will make candelabras and table legs. But the hectic life of the village will remain suspended when Giuseppe and Maria, in the company of a donkey, travel the streets of the village in search of shelter, finding it only outside the walls, in a cave. The comet, crossing the sky of this medieval Palestine, will show the way to the Magi, who will come to adore the Child warmed by a donkey and an ox.
The magic of Marcellano’s Living Nativity has been repeated timely since 1984and in 40 years of history more than one million visitors of all ages have reached this corner of Umbria to witness a show that warms the hearts. It will also be a good opportunity to visit one of the most evocative villages in the Region, the first traces of which date back to documents from the 1200s, from which it appears that the “Castle” was inhabited by around 700 people. Inside, the parish church dedicated to St. Andrew stands out – built on the footprint of a sixteenth-century church – which preserves splendid pictorial works, many of which can be attributed to Andrea Polinori, such as the oil on canvas depicting the Holy Family with St. . John the Evangelist and St. Francis of Assisi. Also worth a visit are the sixteenth-century church of Madonna del Ponte, the Romanesque church of S. Angelo di Sconcolo and that of S. Maria del Fico, without forgetting the oratory of S. Maria della Neve.
Camper parking – Via Villarode (Collesecco di Gualdo Cattaneo) (in front of the Dante Bussotti stadium in Marcellano)
Information:
Date – December 25th/January 6th from sunset
Location: Marcellano (Perugia)
text message to 3408505381
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