Eat. Drink. Do Walk back in time as city's cribs recreate the iconic Nativity scene
While a lot is often said about the Christmas tree and star, the crib depicting the iconic Nativity scene - featuring baby Jesus with his parents Joseph and Mary, and the three wise men - is the most glowing and important part of the Christmas spirit. The scene is a representation of the night of Jesus birth as depicted in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew in the Bible, and the arrival of three kings bearing the gifts for Christ, thereafter. It hence, truly symbolises the Christmas story. In communities and parishes in Mumbai, the preparations to design and build the crib begin nearly a month in advance, with parishioners working late into the night to make their vision a reality. Each year, there's a new theme that's brought to the table. Here's what you can expect to see at some of the biggest cribs in the city this year.
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The Cathedral of the Holy Name, Colaba
Known to be among the most inspiring cribs in town, the youth from Colaba's Holy Name parish this year is creating an image where Mother Mary fits into Joseph, and Joseph into Jesus. "All the three images will merge into one to form a cave like structure," said Father Nigel Barrett, assistant parish priest. The concept the youth are working on is Stairways to Heaven.
Holy Name's crib last year
"The steps symbolise the different value systems we need to imbibe to become more and more as what God intends us to be," Father Barrett adds. "We will have a pool of water at the base, which signifies humanity, and then rising out of the water, will be wooden steps, leading up to the crib, on the elevated portion, with Baby Jesus."
Old Kurla Christian Village, Kurla West
Having bagged the first prize for three years in a row at the competition organised by Mobai Gaothan Parishad, the crib built in this 15th century-old Kurla gaothan is unarguably among the biggest in town. "This year, the community decided to go the traditional way, and create a crib as accurately as described in the gospels," said Anita Shetty, president of the Old Kurla Christian Village Citizens' Forum. The life-size crib built by David Lawrence Yadav, Darryl Barretto and Harshal Sagvekar, boasts of a stable, tiny well, a porter's shed, alongside rugged mountains, and date palm trees to recreate the Jerusalem of yore.
St Pius X Church, Mulund West
The crib at St Pius is nestled within a globe, that's split into two halves. The theme, says Father Gavin D'Souza, was inspired from a song, A Whole New World, which was featured in the Aladdin musical, staged at the St Pius School. "When Christ came into the world, it became a whole new world for us. So, we decided to work around that idea to create this year's crib," Fr D'Souza says.
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