"Journey Through Time: Exploring Casole d'Elsa's Living Nativity"

Hello dear friends,

Today in this post, I want to revisit my experiences during the Christmas holidays, and I want to do so by sincerely sharing some photos I took during a living nativity scene in Casole d'Elsa. If you've been following my posts, I've already shared something about this interesting village located in Tuscany, which is a small jewel with many interesting points. I renew the invitation to visit it even during the summer because it is very beautiful, as I explained in a previous post here.

However, during the Christmas season, a beautiful living nativity scene is organized here. It's a bit of a tradition in Italy to organize living nativity scenes, a tradition that had somewhat stopped due to the COVID situation, but after three years, it has made a strong comeback. In fact, the tradition of organizing living nativity scenes is deeply rooted in Italy because Christianity is deeply ingrained in the country. This tradition dates back to the 1200s when the first living nativity scene was practically created by Saint Francis of Assisi.

So, this year, I organized myself and participated in one of the dates that had been set on the calendar, leading to this immersive experience among scenes and characters from the life of Jesus. Naturally, it wasn't my first time in a living nativity scene, although I must tell you the truth—I prefer the ones organized in the evening rather than the afternoon because, in my opinion, darkness creates a better setting, but that's just my perspective.

I took a walk in the afternoon within Casole d'Elsa, and through the streets of this village, there were more than 300 participants. It truly felt like going back to the time of Jesus. I also noticed that the audience response was good, so I hope these events are organized more frequently because they bring these places back to life.

There were various artisans present, carving wood, and also cute animals that practically formed the shepherds' flock. Honestly, I thought the scenes from the story of Jesus would focus mainly on his birth, but some scenes belong to much earlier times, and this can be interesting to bring a bit of history and tradition from that era.

In conclusion, I think participating in events like this can be interesting not only for those who are believers but also for those who love art and history, like me. I believe these traditions should be preserved over time. So, if you happen to be in this area during the Christmas season, there are five performances of this nativity scene until the Epiphany.

I hope you could appreciate the photos, even though I realize they may not be of the highest quality. See you in my next post, and I wish you all a good day!