By Doris Carballo. | The residents of the Tigaiga neighborhood, in Los Realejos, will once again transform their streets, this December 25, of Nazaret and Belén to revive, after three years, their particular living Belenwhere they are the protagonists.
After the last show, back in 2019, Tigaiga street, from the Tigotán Neighborhood Association Even the Plaza de la Hispanidad, located at the foot of the cliff of the aforementioned neighborhood, is transformed into a stage that evokes the places where the birth of Jesus of Nazareth took place.
Under the light of the torches, which replace street lamps, a theatrical performance takes place in which the participants, dressed in the clothing of the time, work on their own tasks that were carried out in the middle of the Roman Empire and recall key scenes that occurred back then just before the arrival of the redeemer.
neighborhood decoration
Children, young people and adults from the neighborhood are in charge of taking those who visit it to another time thanks to the decoration and preparation of the roads, the land and the houses that make it up. Shepherds and merchants roam the place with their animals, and, among other things, do their wages, go shopping or spend the little free time they have pouring a glass of wine, but always under the magnifying glass of the Romans, who impose their law under the command of Emperor Caesar Augustus.
50 years of tradition
A tradition that began 50 years ago, given that its origins date back to 1972, and that was promoted, upon his arrival in Tigaiga, by the Salesian parish priest Guillermo González Navarro. From then until today, it has only suffered two breaks in time: one of two years in the 80s and another that covers the last two editions, as a consequence of the COVID pandemic.
Traditionally, the living portal began to take place on the night of December 24, although since 2013 it has been represented on Christmas Day, the 25th, having greater acceptance by the many visitors who come every year.
In this way, tomorrow, starting at 6:00 p.m., the setting begins and, correlatively, when night falls, the different scenes will take place, which includes a theatrical script, in which the Virgin Mary is brought to life. , Saint Joseph, the child Jesus, the angel Gabriel, Elizabeth (cousin of Mary), Zacharias, the Romans, the shepherds, among other personalities, in various settings: the market, the shepherds’ orchard, the Angel’s annunciation, the Elizabeth’s house, the tavern, the Roman castle, the shepherds’ bonfire, the census and, finally, in the square, where the manger is located, the Posada, the birth of Jesus and the announcement of the Angel to a group of shepherds of the arrival of the redeemer.
Birth of baby Jesus
The act concludes with the birth in the manger, which is located in the Plaza de la Hispanidad, of the baby Jesus and with the arrival of the shepherds to adore him, after going down and previously illuminating the Tigaiga cliff with their torches.
The royal neighborhood awaits with open arms all those who want to remember this tradition, which evokes the year I BC
