Christmas tree and crib scene to be inaugurated on Dec
7th
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| The 2016 Christmas tree and crib scene in St Peter's Square.- ANSA |
(Vatican Radio) The giant Christmas Crib and fir tree which
traditionally adorn St Peter’s Square throughout the festive season will be
inaugurated, this year, on the afternoon of December 7th.
The crib scene for Christmas 2017 will be donated by the
ancient Abbey of Montevergine in the Campania region of
southern Italy. The scenery and crib figures, in 18th century Neapolitan
costumes, will be produced by artisans in a local workshop. The two metre high
figures, inspired by the theme of the Works of Mercy, will be made
of coloured terracotta with garments in traditional fabrics.
The Christmas tree will be a giant, 28 metre high
red fir, given, by the archdiocese of Elk, in north-eastern Poland. It will
be cut down by a member of the local forestry service and transported over two
thousand kilometres across central Europe and Italy, before arriving here in
the Vatican.
Children design tree decorations
The tree will be decorated with stars and baubles designed
by young cancer patients from several Italian hospitals. The
decorations have been made out of clay by children and their parents during
therapeutic workshop sessions and reproduced in hard-wearing synthetic
materials that can stand up to the winter weather conditions in St Peter’s
Square. A number of children from the earthquake-hit areas of
central Italy have also taken part in this design project.
Donors to meet Pope Francis
On the morning of December 7th, some of the young artists,
together with delegations from Poland and from the Campania region, will meet
with Pope Francis, ahead of the official inauguration and lighting
ceremony at 4.30pm.
Both the tree and the crib scene will remain in St Peter’s
Square until the evening of Sunday January 7th 2018, as the Church
marks the end of the Christmas season with the feast of Our Lord’s Baptism.
(Philippa Hitchen)
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