Give Importance to Belen

Every Christmas Season, we Filipinos are always fond of decorating our homes with various Christmas symbols such as lanterns, stars, Santa Claus and belen, and among others. But the most important symbol of them all is the belen or the nativity scene. The belen takes its accounts on the birth of Jesus which is taken from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Luke’s narrative describes an angel announcing the birth of Jesus to shepherds who then visit the humble site where Jesus is found lying in a manger surrounded by Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:8-20). On the other hand, Matthew’s narrative tells of wise men who follow a star to the house where Jesus dwelt (Mat. 2:1-12). The Magi and angels are often displayed in a nativity scene with the Holy Family, the shepherds and their flock, an ox and the Star of Bethlehem that led the magi to Jesus’ birth place.

According to wikipedia, Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with creating the first nativity scene in 1223 at Greccio, central Italy, in an attempt to place the emphasis of Christmas upon the worship of Christ rather than upon secular materialism and gift giving. The nativity scene created by Francis is described by Saint Bonaventure in his Life of Saint Francis of Assisi written around 1260. Staged in a cave near Greccio, Saint Francis’ nativity scene was a living one with humans and animals cast in the Biblical roles. Pope Honorius III gave his blessing to the exhibit.

Such reenactment pantomimes became hugely popular and spread throughout Christendom. Eventually, statues replaced human and animal participants, and static scenes grew to elaborate affairs with richly robed figurines placed in intricate landscape settings. Since then, the construction of nativity scenes has become a lasting tradition among Catholic and Protestant countries all over the world including Italy, France, Poland, Spain, Mexico and other parts of Central America. In the Philippines, the tradition was brought by Spanish Franciscans. Thus, the word belen is a Filipino term derived from the Spanish word for Bethlehem.

On this note, may we Catholics give importance in displaying the belen more than any other decorative during Christmas Season. The belen in our homes, offices and buildings hopefully may serve as a visible reminder of the night that our Savior was born. The humble beginnings of Jesus Christ in the manger may also provide as an example for us to treat Christmas Time as a simple yet meaningful tradition rather than a consumerism activity. Most often we let the children believe in Santa Claus who will make their wishes come true come Christmas day. Rather than doing this, it is better to explain to the kids the real meaning of Christmas that is found in the belen where God gave us the greatest gift of all that is his son Jesus Christ.

With that, let us ponder on Fr. Joseph A. Galdon’s words in his book “The Mustard Seed” that says… “There is no doubt that sentimentalism and commercialism have eaten away at the real meaning of Christmas. People don’t pay much attention to the Lord all year long, and then wallow in sentimental piety when Christmas comes along. Listen to the Christmas songs and you realize how icky Christmas has become: “The Little Drummer Boy,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” and “Give Love on Christmas Day.” For so many of us, Christmas is measured in shopping days. We spend more time wrapping presents than we spend in Church. We forget that the real message of Christmas is a message of conversion and redemption.”