The Fort Assiniboine and Friends Christian Community want to invite everyone to their hamlet to witness the birth of Jesus Christ.
On Saturday and Sunday Nov. 22 and 23, about 10 area churches put on a live reenactment of the night of Jesus’ birth, called Journey to Bethlehem.
Margaret Attrill, casting director of the production, said the churches in the Westlock, Fort Assininboine and Barrhead area have been putting on the production for 16 years.
“It is really a big production,” Attrill said. “There are more than 100 volunteers, from actors, to animal handlers.”
Attrill said the idea of the play is to have the audience follow a family on their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for the census in order to see what Mary and Joseph experienced more than 2,000 years ago.
To make sure everyone paid their taxes, Roman Emperor Augustus ordered everyone in the empire to return to where their families originally came from, including Mary and Joseph whose family were from Nazareth.
Although, the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was a long one, of about 100 kilometres, which took many days on foot, the production concentrates on the night that cumulates in Jesus’ birth.
Attrill said the audience and the family are guided through their journey with the help of a young woman named Rachel.
“They go past soldiers, a prophet, shepherds, beggars and even run into a pick pocket,” she said. “All before they reach Bethlehem and try to find a place to stay for the night.”
The walk-through nativity story starts at 6:30 p.m. at the St. John Vianney Catholic Church on Main Street in Fort Assinboine and ends at the Friendship Centre or museum. The event ends at 8:30 p.m. each day.
It takes about 20 minutes to walk through the whole nativity scene. Depending on the number of people waiting, walk-throughs start every eight to 10 minutes.
For those people who have to wait, Attrill said there is music and entertainment at the Catholic Church and hot drinks and other refreshments at the Friendship Centre.
Because the nativity walk-through is held entirely outdoors, proper winter attire is recommended.
Atrill said the event is very popular and estimates close to 1,000 people attend every year. Although the event is free, people are asked to make a donation. Donations go towards offsetting the costs of staging the event and to the Christian Blind Mission International (CBMI) where the group originally got the script from.
For more information about the Journey to Bethlehem event, visit the facebook page, Journey To Bethlehem 2014 - Fort Assiniboine.
