As soon as the
Nativity Fast begins, the anticipation of Christmas is literally spread in the
air! This becomes especially evident in church: subdued light, altered pitch,
and the very structure of worship makes one focused on this special time of
year.
It is crucial that
children fall in love with the atmosphere of the Nativity Fast in church and
feel its celestial, transparent, and unique grace. This will make it possible
for your child to discover the joy of the holiday more and more every year.
The Nativity Fast
is the path leading up to a great joy. Every family has its unique method of
preparing for the holiday. The atmosphere of love at home plays an important
role.
It is great when
the entire family agrees to give up for the fast something that children like
in their everyday lives, such as watching TV or playing video games. However,
this time must be filled with something. Giving up video games or cartoons
might be interpreted as a kind of punishment. What kind of a holiday filled
with love and warmth will it be?!
You’ve got to do
something together with your kids: either read with them or find useful movies
that can be both entertaining, given that children still need some fun, and
give some food for thought and for the heart.
Eugene
Demakov, Bedtime Story, 2002
Try making a shadow
play!
We’ve already
posted an article on the benefits of home theater and reading.
Children can play their parts themselves or use puppets. Home theater has so many hidden opportunities!
You can
construct a puppet theater in a box (known as Batleika in Belarus, Szopka in Poland and the
Czech Republic, Vertep in Russia (Vertep is an old-fashioned Russian
synonym for “cave”, retained by Church Slavonic. First Christians had to hide
from persecutions in verteps (that is, caves and catacombs)), and Presepe in
Italy…) This is a time-consuming but a very rewarding process!
People from Italy,
Spain, France, Austria, Czechia, Poland, and many other countries can’t imagine
the main winter holiday without the colorful crèches in the streets and
squares, in churches, schools and storefronts.
Finger
puppets behind a screen is the most basic idea.
You can also make a
shadowplay—one of the most affordable and spectacular kinds of playing with
children. It’s a veritable magic!
First of all,
you’ll need a screen.
You can make it out
of a cardboard box with a cut-out rear wall, or a picture frame. Stretch
tracing paper or white fabric over the opening and make props. Place the screen
on the edge of the table and a source of light behind your back.
Secondly, you’ll need to make the puppets. They are
made of cardboard. Print them out or copy by hand. Your puppets will be even
more expressive if their legs and arms can move separately from the rest of the
body.
You can make some of the puppets and scenery from dense
transparent film and paint them with glass paints.
Samples of scenery for
home shadowplay
(you can print them out for your first performance)
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Now you’re all set for your first rehearsal!
Scenario. You can use the simple storyline: the
road of the Holy Family to Bethlehem, the apparition of the Angel to the
shepherds, the journey of the Magi, and finally, Christmas. You can end the
play by bowing to Baby Jesus and finally singing the troparion to the Nativity
in front of the icon.
There is an opinion that the voice of the
narrator should not intone words or change pitch when playing various parts.
All parts are intoned in a neutral voice, on a single note, like in the church,
to indicate the sacredness of the action.
Script. Read the Gospel narrative together with
your kids! You can find ready-made scripts or contrive your own, depending on
the age of the participants. Younger children should use simple words and older
children should use more complex words. You can write a rhymed script or a
script to sing along, too.
Finally, you’ve got to pay attention to musical
accompaniment, which is no less important than the script. Well-chosen carols
and songs about the Nativity of Christ make your play even more exciting. Live
music (guitar, flute, or violin) would be a fantastic extra…
Lastly, I would like to underline a very
important point. Home theater on Christmas is like a window with a shining
candle, a window looking at the living Word of the Gospel, which leaves its
imprint on your child’s soul. It would be great if you read not only the
Christmas story but also the whole Gospel during the Nativity Fast.
If you read and study the Gospel in your family
as the chief “subject”, then it will enter the life of your home. The Gospel
will sanctify your life and govern it. If your home is built on a consensus
between the husband and the wife, if both of you agree to listen to the word of
God and make the Gospel the foundation of your own life, then you will succeed
in leading your entire family to God.
In that case, your home turns into a church. It
becomes Heaven on earth. The Lord himself becomes the head of your household.
By
Michael Mironenko,
a Bachelor of Theology,
the director of the Sunday School at the
Church
in honor of St. Prince Vladimir in
Minsk,
director at the studio
theater "Ladybird" for 9 years,
a father of two children
The Catalof of Good Deeds, 2018
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