The atmosphere of this year's Vatican Christmas in St. Peter's Square will be decorated with a pine tree from Trentino County in northern Italy and a Bethlehem manger from the Peruvian region of the Andes Mountains in South America. The traditional opening of the nativity scene and the lighting of the Christmas tree candles will be held on Szent Péter Square today, that is, on Friday, December 10, at five o'clock in the afternoon.
The Vatican Christmas tree claim St. II. It is thanks to Pope János Pál, because he naturalized it in the Eternal City in 1982 as the bishop of Rome with the manger Christmas tree in Bethlehem. Spreading further from here, the whole of Italy introduced the Christmas religious folk custom typical of Central and Northern Europe, which is so lovely, the setting up of the Christmas tree, with the Bethlehem manger placed at its base.
The dignified spruce (Picea abies), about 28 meters high, comes this year from the village of Andalo in the Trentino county of northern Italy, which lies on the 1,050-meter high plateau of the Paganella Dolomites. The spruce originates from the Trentino branch of Sustainable Forest Management and is accompanied by a local delegation to decorate it with spherical natural tree decorations after it is erected . As usual, the Government takes care of lighting the Christmas tree through its Directorate of Infrastructure and Services, using a low-energy LED system.
The Peruvian Nativity scene , while commemorating the country's two hundred years of independence, presents the life of the peoples of the Andes in the context of the universal vocation to salvation.
The statues of the Infant Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, the Three Kings and the shepherds are made in life size, mainly using ceramic and agave wood, and then they are dressed in the typical folk costume of Chopcca. Jesus will look like a "Hilipuska" child, so called because he is wrapped in a typical Huancavelica colorful blanket and around his waist is a "chumpi", a braided belt. The saddlebags and sacks of the Three Kings are stuffed with typical foods of Huancavelica, including, for example, sweet potatoes.
In the Bethlehem scene, the birth of the Savior is announced by a small angel who will play the typical local wind instrument called Wajrapuco. Typical representatives of the local animal world are placed in the Bethlehem manger, sheep, llamas and, among the birds, the Andean condor, the national symbol of Peru. A delegation from the Chopcca settlement will also participate in the inauguration ceremony to present its own culture, traditions and some ancient tools that are still in use today. Chopcca is a Quechua-speaking community of 10,000 souls located east of the county seat of Huancavelica, at an altitude of between 3,680 and 4,500 meters above sea level, in an area crossed by the Qhapaq Ñan, the Inca Trail . Life-size figures evoke everyday life, such as a shepherd carrying a lamb on his shoulder and a girl holding doves in a basket. Rabbits and chickens farm together in the barn together with a cat.
In order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, the traditional opening of the nativity scene and the lighting of the Christmas tree candles will be held at Szent Péter Square on Friday, December 10, at five o'clock in the afternoon. The ceremony was performed by Archbishop Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, Vatican City State. The pine tree erected on St. Peter's Square with the Bethlehem manger will be on display until the end of the Christmas period - January 9, 2022.
Source: P. Vértesaljai László SJ's full article can be read on the Vatican News portal.
