Vilavenut, in the Girona region of Pla de l’Estany, premiered its traditional living nativity scene yesterday, Friday, which this year celebrates its 35th edition with a peculiarity: on the first day of the performance, visitors did not find any extras dressed as Saint Joseph, but rather two Mothers of God.
The protagonists of the change are Aina and Tina, who on October 23 became mothers of their second child: Lola, who yesterday played baby Jesus. “They asked us to participate, but neither of us wanted to dress up as a man,” explains Aina, who is a local daughter. The decision has caused the Vilavenut nativity scene to have a greater impact than in years, although the organization considers that “it has gone a little out of hand.”
The main streets and buildings of Vilavenut were transformed on Friday night into the scene of a large living nativity scene, with all the spaces prepared in detail to host the biblical scenes. At eight in the afternoon, attendees toured all the scenes as a group, which can also be visited at seven in the afternoon on Saturday.
This year, among the hundred extras who participate dressed as shepherds, angels, kings of the East and even caganer, two female figures stand out: the Mothers of God. “As we are two women, we said we wanted to do it that way and they didn’t give us any problems,” explains Tina.
One dressed in the traditional blue tunic with a matching white scarf and the other wore a green one, covered with lilac fabric. Aina, sitting in the chair, held her daughter Lola in her arms, acting as baby Jesus. And her first son, Jon, also participated, who played the role of a shepherd boy accompanied by his grandfather. “They offered us to do it a couple of years ago, when our son was born and we said no because the child was only one month old,” says Aina, who says that, with the birth of her daughter, they proposed it again and she did ” “excitement” to participate.
The couple insists that their presence at the manger “is not a claim” nor does it want to be a precedent for other families. “At no time have we wanted anyone religious to feel offended or to change tradition,” says Aina. And she adds: “I was born in this town, I have always done the nativity scene and I was excited to participate with my family.” In fact, she already played baby Jesus in the Vilavenut manger the year of her birth, as will her daughter.
According to the organization, this is a nativity scene that “the town priest started 35 years ago.” “In the beginning, only children participated and the baby Jesus was already real,” explains the member of the board of the manger, Anna Oliver, who says that as time has passed, “he has been offered to those who have had creatures perform the birth scene”. For this reason, it is beginning to be the case that “many who play Saint Joseph or the Virgin Mary played baby Jesus.” This is what happened this Friday with Aina, but she is not the only one who will play the Virgin Mary this year.
This Saturday there will be a second performance in which another couple linked to Vilavenut will participate and where San José will be present. “The 22nd is done by one family and the 23rd by another,” Oliver said. Regarding the echo that creating a living nativity scene with two Virgin Marys has had, Anna Oliver acknowledges that at first they “liked it” because “Vilavenut has a hundred inhabitants and it was an attraction for people to come.”
