I think Sicily produces the only nativity play in the world which features live belly dancers.
It happens in the town of Termini Imerese, on Sicily’s north coast, which produces a nativity play each year which fills the entire town.
The historic town centre is closed off and becomes the stage for a dramatic production which the audience follows on foot, led from scene to scene by their narrator. Obviously this involves vast sacrifice on the part of the many families who live there.
These photos were taken last Christmas. All the actors are local people, and nobody is paid for their participation. They spend months rehearsing. A small amount of money is charged per person, and the money is given to charity.
The story begins with the resurrection, and then goes back in time to tell the story of Jesus from the beginning.
This shows Mary and Joseph getting married, despite the fact that Joseph knows Mary is already pregnant. The Jewish wedding was quite accurate, I think.
There were lots of scenes showing the brutal treatment of the Hebrews at the hands of the Romans. Sicily was conquered by the Romans and treated brutally, too; they really went to town on this part. They created so much movement and chaos and noise that I had a major adrenaline rush!
I didn’t manage to take any good photos of the Roman soldiers dashing through the crowd beating the citizens in the Israeli market. It was all so fast!
Mary and Joseph were arrested and taken into the Roman fortress. All they could do was pray.
To reach the next scene, we walked along an entire street of artisans working. We saw weavers, stone masons, potters, tanners, carpenters and metal workers.
Eventually we reached the court of King Herod, filled with scenes of debauchery, gluttony and lust. Our guide was a trained lay preacher and I think this was what gave her so much passion and made her narrative so powerful. The people of Termini Imerese had put a lot of historical research into their production and she told us a lot of history beyond the bible story.
At last you get to see these famous belly dancers! They were in the decadent court of corrupt King Herod. Herod’s African bodyguards (he really did have them, and they were famous for their ferocity) were played by refugees from Africa who are friends with one of the play’s organisers.
Then we saw the money lenders outside the synagogue. The synagogue was an abandoned early medieval church, from the 12th century I believe. It no longer has a roof and somehow this added to making it a spectacular setting.
Mary and Joseph walked from inn to inn, begging for a room. We followed them, watching citizens eat dinner outside their houses, or calling out from their upstairs windows that they were full.
Eventually the holy family reached an outdoor encampment, and were allowed to spend the night in the stable. Our narrator led the group in a prayer while Mary gave birth.
The three wise men brought him gifts, and the donkey brayed just at the right moment! It wanted more oranges.
I wish all my readers a peaceful and happy Christmas.
The Dangerously Truthful Diary of a Sicilian Housewife 
Veronica, did it stop at the birth or were there shepherds, angels, wise men, and flight to Egypt, too? What an incredible post, I feel I was really there.
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It stopped at the birth with the three wise men. The last part was amazingly emotive as we were in an abandoned church (there seem to be a lot of them in Termini Imerese), derelict yet beautiful, which put us in the right mood of humility.
The whole thing lasted over 3 hours so, by that time, it was OK by me for it to stop there!!!!
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Brilliant photos and post. I saw somthing like this in my wifes home town. It is fabulous how a complete village gets involved.
Merry Christmas
from PN and Mrs Sensible
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Oh I didn’t know they did similar things in other towns! Which is her town?
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Great reenactment, congratulations to all involved! … but …. Mary and Joseph arrested by the Romans?! Which Gospel is this? According to Rowan Atkinson? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umRRCkspaQU
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Ha ha haaaaaaa!!! LOL!
I’ve actually seen that Rowan Atkinson performance live in London!
The narrator did mention some historic sources, but the whole narrative was so detailed and long it was too much for my poor brain to remember it all. But I got the impression they had carefully researched everything, and so maybe there is some Roman historian or other ancient source for this. Josephus perhaps?
We should probably look it up, shouldn’t we? Maybe tomorrow! 😉
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“Jesus” looks a bit shell-shocked 🙂
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He was actually terribly angry because he wanted his milk. He screamed at the Wise Men who brought him gifts he didn’t want. In the end Mary got out his bottle of milk, and brought peace to the world.
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Ha, who wants gold when you can have milk! I always think of that episode of Bottom where they reenact the birth of Jesus, only with gold, Frankenstein and Grrrr 🙂
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I’d never seen that sketch and just looked it up on You Tube.
*Laughing hysterically!!!!*
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Ah, poor little baby Jesus wanting his milk! Mind you, he doesn’t look particularly newborn…and if he was, I don’t think Mary would be smiling that much!
What a lovely post. Thank you Veronica.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
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I think he was at least a year old. It was dreadfully cold and they said they don’t use tiny babies as it might be risky – they have to be outside a long time!
It really was a fabulous experience being there.
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Veronica,
Am absolutely loving your recent posts. This was amazing, as was your great report on the African contributions. I look for your posts every day when scanning my email!!!
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😀 Thank you. I am really glad you’re enjoying it all!
And Merry Christmas to you!
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That’s a delightful post. I’m wondering whether you found the performance more realistic than if you had seen it in a regular theater. Maybe it was better to have the characters straight from the street rather than from the casting agency? I don’t recall ever seeing anything like that before.
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Yes, it definitely did. It was as if we were walking about the streets of Jerusalem watching it all happen in real life in front of us. The actors were all around us so we kept looking behind us so as not to miss anything.
Nobody seemed to be consciously acting, they were just doing their thing – making pots, dragging stubborn donkeys through the streets, dashing about in freakishly realistic Roman centurion costumes shouting abuse in Latin. It felt so real I was actually scared of the Roman soldiers!
A lot of the people were simply doing their real life jobs in different clothes – the people tending animals for example, the men throwing pots and carving wood. There were even a couple of beggars sitting outside the church who we were told are gypsies who are always there, begging for money: they were persuaded to put on brown clothes and ask for shekels. We actually did give them some money!
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I thoroughly enjoyed it all. I am from that part of Sicily and never knew of this reenactment of the nativity. I do know they take place all over the world but not so intense. Lena
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Intense is exactly the right word to describe it! I definitely think you should plan a trip to Sicily one Christmas so you can see it. It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
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Loved the info! ^_^
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