Back To Bethlehem- We had an a wonderful experience that was not only uplifting spiritually but a top notch real live history lesson of the times and setting of the town of Bethlehem at the time that Jesus was born there.
At first I did not realize how immersed this experience was going to be. The added blessing was it turned into a field trip for our son who is 7 that we homeschool. He is doing a project on what he learned there and now we are delving more into the history of the day.
Each year there is a church called The Community of Hope Church that is located just a few minutes from Wellington Florida in a town called- Loxahatchee Florida, that puts on the Town Of Bethlehem re-inactment. This takes all year to plan and then it must take months to execute and set up everything.
The Town Of Bethlehem is only open for 3 nights. We decided to go on a Sunday night. The line was long! I was happy to stand in line to get into the town and so were all the other people waiting. The setting called for calm and happy attitudes. Small groups of people get to go through the town at a time.
I am still learning how to use my new Nikon P6000 in the dark. Don't have that down yet, so the photos are not the best but I think you will still get a sense of what the scenes were like. It was very dark and only candlelight to light up the night.
Talk about realistic. These actors and actresses, all volunteers from their church, talk the way the people talked back in Bethlehem during that period of time. They dressed in period clothing. All the furnishings were as authentic as they could get them.
As we were arriving at the gate of the town of Bethlehem- the Roman Soldiers were standing guard- looking mean- and bossing us around like we were servants. Our son was asking us why did they talk down to us in this manner and this of course gave us a chance to talk about liberty and freedom and how many people still in the world today are treated this way in their countries.
We got ushered into the tax station where your head of household, the oldest male, had to sign his family's name to the tax scrolls. Then we are told a story by a Rabi of the day. He was excellent in period and tone.
The town was a bustling little village consisting of store fronts that were typical of the day. There were women and girls baking bread and selling (pretending) their finished loaves. We were able to see why bread was considered such a precious food! It was hard to make in those days. Our son watched in bewilderment as the ladies there were taking the wheat plant, removing the wheat and grinding all of that by hand. Then it continued to be worked, ingredients added and then of course, kneaded. They actually cooked the bread loaves in a wood burning outdoor type oven and then we got to sample the bread. It was delicious.
We saw the sword and knife welders, the blacksmith, boys selling camels and goats, music stores, herb and medicinal stores, jewelry and furniture stores. Then our son watched the girls weaving yarn on weaving tables in order to make the cloth to make the robes they wore in those days.
It was such an interesting and well thought out and well designed Town of Bethlehem.
They also had a record turnout with over 7000 people going through this town in the three night period.
After you go through the village you get to go into the manger and see Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. There a young adult is playing the guitar and we all sing Silent Night together.
Everyone is treated with either water, hot chocolate or apple cider in the hospitality area.
We will definitely be going back again next year to this event of the Town of Bethlehem. If you have not been there yet, mark your calendars for next December to be there.
Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to all our friends, family, clients, and active rainers.
