Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem, the event that has attracted thousands of visitors over the past two years, is back to enchant plenty more.
The Nativity village is situated adjacent to the Għajnsielem main square, just a few minutes’ walk from Mġarr harbour. The life-size crib, constructed on 20,000 square metres of fields on a stretch of land known as Ta’ Passi, comes to life during the month of December with about 150 actors taking visitors back in time to Judea of 2,000 years ago.
When visiting the live crib one finds it very hard to believe that until October 2008 Ta’ Passi fields were an eyesore right at the centre of the village of Għajnsielem, uncultivated and abandoned, accumulating refuse. The NGOs of Għajnsielem, with the full support and the financial backing of the local council, decided to take on what turned out to be a very ambitious and complex project.
In the space of a few weeks, they managed to clean up and rehabilitate the area while converting it into a crib. The experiment turned out to be such a huge success that in the space of a month, the Nativity village managed to attract tens of thousands of visitors from all over the Maltese islands.
It is no secret that the success of the event was owed to the artistic and creative abilities of project director Franco Ciangura. Today, the Fondazzjoni Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem has been established to take on the responsibility of organising the event which is still fully sponsored by the Għajnsielem local council together with the central government and a number of other strategic partners.
The community of Għajnsielem has once again taken on this massive but highly successful and extremely popular project. The army of carpenters, blacksmiths and skilled individuals, all members of the organisation, were busy at work to pull off this major event since mid-September.
This year the organisers were given a new challenge – don’t just make it bigger and better, make it safer and greener! Thus, every dwelling has been enlarged and internally decorated to give it a typical Gozitan rustic look.
Each dwelling is inhabited and animated by whole families, to remind everyone that Christmas is a celebration of the family. This year visitors are able to go inside the carpenter’s and the blacksmith’s houses and taste traditional Gozitan delicacies prepared meticulously by Mrs Carpenter and Mrs Blacksmith.
The stream has been re-done to blend better with the surrounding landscape.
The tavern area has been re-shaped in a manner to give customers the feeling of being in a food court with enhanced views of the grotto area. The surrounding fields have been cultivated with crops just about ripe for picking. Seasonal fruits, fresh fish and a wide selection of vegetables are available from the open-air market while a local crafts area promotes traditional craft skills and folklore.
A picnic area offers unique surroundings for a family outing on Sundays while oil lamps are being distributed for those visiting Bethlehem f’Għajnsielem by night.
The main novelty this year is the Bethlehem Inn – a two-storey hotel with four rooms that is available for rent! In fact, each of these rooms is decorated and styled to resemble an inn around the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Following the night stay at the Nativity village, residents can try hands-on farming. There are horses, donkeys, goats and sheep to feed along with a wide variety of poultry. There are also cultivated fields that require weeding.
The Nativity will be animated on the following days: Saturdays: from 4.30 p.m. till 9 p.m.; Sundays: from 2 till 7 p.m.; Christmas and New Year’s Day: from 3.30 till 8 p.m.
www.ghajnsielem.com/bethlehem